With reports of unrest within the New York Giants’ locker room bleeding out amidst a disappointing season, it appears that there are issues with the team’s leadership.
Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported on Sunday morning prior to New York’s kick-off against the New England Patriots that tension is building between head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. So much so that it is in “a bad place.”
“I don’t see this relationship continuing,” Glazer said. “It’ll probably end with a mutual parting of ways.”
This is Martindale’s second season as Giants defensive coordinator, coming over from the Baltimore Ravens when Daboll was hired as head coach.
New York had the NFL’s 17th-ranked defense last season regarding points allowed — a 2022 campaign featuring an unlikely run to the NFC Divisional Round after the Giants upset the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card Game.
This season has seen Big Blue’s defense provide some of the only bright spots of a 3-8 start entering Sunday’s action. Martindale’s unit has often been left out to dry by the worst-scoring offense in the NFL and has done little to keep them off the field for invaluable rest.
Major fault lines of unrest from the Giants locker room first appeared earlier this month when safety Xavier McKinney took a dig at the team’s coaching staff.
“I think that from a leadership standpoint, I don’t think they’ve done a great job of letting the leaders lead and listening to the leaders and the captains,” McKinney said (h/t ESPN). “But obviously it sucks losing… It was little things. It was one of those things where you have some of your leaders, captains from a defensive standpoint, trying to switch things up. And just not really being heard.”
The Giants have attempted to smooth things over in recent weeks, but nothing usually solves issues more than winning. They did just that in Week 11 thanks to a defense that forced six turnovers in a 31-19 victory over the Washington Commanders.
Clearly, according to Glazer, at least, that isn’t the case.
“When I talk to people inside that organization, they say the tension between these two, you can feel it,” Glazer said. “It’s getting worse and it’s odd that it’s happened considering how much success they had last year.”
