Don 'Wink' Martindale discusses uncertain Giants future

New York Giants defensive coordinator Don "Wink" Martindale spoke with reporters ahead of Sunday's season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles about his uncertain future working under Giants head coach Brian Daboll.

"Do I expect to be back? I don’t know why I wouldn’t," Martindale told reporters on Thursday, per Joe Pantorno of AM New York Metro. "You have those conversations after this last game and you sit back and you can reflect and you take the emotion out of it, the emotion, the grind, the stress of preparing every week and you sit back, and you talk things out. Say here’s where we are at, so I think that’s natural on every team."

Martindale and Daboll helped guide the Giants to a road playoff victory last January, but whispers about their relationship hovered over the organization throughout the second half of the ongoing season as Big Blue fell to 5-11. Fox Sports NFL insider Jay Glazer reported in late November that Martindale and Daboll could agree to a mutual parting of ways following the campaign, and Jordan Raanan of ESPN noted for a piece published Thursday that "the tension between the Giants defensive coordinator and coach" is "real." 

Daboll and Martindale previously insisted they were still on the same page, but such damage control hasn't silenced suggestions that Daboll could dismiss the 60-year-old as soon as this coming Monday. 

"I think the future is bright if you’re asking me how I look at my future," Martindale added on Thursday. "Those answers will come later on [next] week as far as which way we go. I know we’ve got the greatest fans in this league and we’ve got the greatest ownership in this league, and you want to have a winner, you deserve to have a winner, and so whenever you are not winning, how this league works, inevitably, you are going to have conversations, tough conversations. How that works out is how that is going to work out."

Giants co-owner John Mara seemingly will retain Daboll and allow the 2022 Coach of the Year to choose his assistants past Week 18. It's unclear if Daboll has a replacement in mind assuming he's serious about moving on from Martindale.