Wink Martindale has Aaron Glenn's ear as Jets search for DC

Aaron Glenn’s first season leading the New York Jets ended with a hard reset on defense, and the search for a new coordinator is now front and center. The decision follows a disastrous year under Steve Wilks, whose unit finished last in the NFL in EPA per play, ranked 32nd against the pass, and 25th versus the run.

The breaking point came after a humiliating 48-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, which led to Wilks’ dismissal and forced Glenn to rethink the direction of his staff.

As the Jets pivot, one name has quickly surfaced. According to Newsweek’s Jordan Sigler, the organization has “extreme interest” in Wink Martindale, most recently Michigan’s defensive coordinator.

According to Newsweek, “Martindale seems to be a guy that has Glenn’s ear,” signaling a level of alignment that was missing a year ago.

Martindale became available after Michigan’s coaching change, when new head coach Kyle Whittingham opted not to retain him.

The appeal is straightforward. Martindale brings decades of NFL experience, with coordinator stops in Denver, Baltimore, and New York.

His resume suggests he can lift a struggling defense without a prolonged rebuild, a critical need for a Jets team coming off one of the worst defensive seasons in franchise history.

For Glenn, this hire is less about experimentation and more about restoring competence and credibility on that side of the ball.

Why Martindale fits the Jets’ moment

The urgency behind this potential hire is rooted in the significant decline of the Jets’ defense. In 2025, the unit failed to record a single interception across 14 straight games, tying the 2024 San Francisco 49ers for the longest such drought in league history.

They finished the season with zero interceptions overall, something no team had done since the NFL began tracking the stat in 1933. Back-to-back blowouts against Jacksonville and Buffalo produced 82 points allowed, the most the Jets have surrendered in consecutive games since 2021.

Glenn openly bristled at recurring issues like missed tackles and poor gap discipline, once summing it up as “B.S.” After a 239-yard rushing performance by Miami.

Martindale offers a stark contrast. In Baltimore, his defenses consistently ranked near the top of the league, including a stretch of top-three finishes in points allowed and a Super Bowl run that featured 10 postseason takeaways.

With the Giants, he inherited a defense ranked 23rd in 2021 and moved it to 18th in 2022, helping push the team back into the playoffs. That track record of immediate improvement mirrors the type of turnaround Glenn once oversaw in Detroit.

The lingering concern is personality fit. Martindale’s exit from the Giants followed a fractured relationship with Brian Daboll.

ESPN’s Jordan Raanan reported that Martindale “said his piece, got up, slammed the door and walked out of the building” after staff changes late in 2023. Glenn’s challenge is to ensure that shared vision and communication are clearly defined. If that alignment exists, Martindale could be the stabilizing force a deflated Jets defense badly needs.