Former MVP has theory about stories on Giants' Brian Daboll

New York Giants legend and CBS Sports NFL analyst Tiki Barber speculated on Monday that people no longer associated with the organization are responsible for multiple stories that indicated Giants head coach Brian Daboll is to blame for defensive coordinator Don "Wink" Martindale "mutually" agreeing to part ways with the franchise last week. 

One-time NFL Most Valuable Player and fellow CBS Sports personality Boomer Esiason offered a theory about who with ties to the Giants may or may not be speaking with media members such as Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News. 

"When I read this article, I’m thinking, 'This is Wink Martindale giving it all to Pat Leonard,'" Esiason explained during Tuesday's edition of the WFAN "Boomer and Gio" program, per Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "It’s just bad blood. It looks bad, and you know who it’s coming from. If you’re Brian Daboll, you just gotta move on from it and figure it out." 

It was first reported in late November that Daboll and Martindale were in a "bad place" and could part ways following the conclusion of the season. More recently, anonymous team sources referred to Daboll as a "madman" on gamedays who displayed "destructive" behavior. Leonard revealed on Monday that one Giants staffer "recently advised an NFL assistant calling about a vacancy" to look elsewhere for work. 

Martindale previously served as an assistant and, later, as defensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens from 2012 until he moved on from that organization in January 2022. 

"There’s a reason why Wink Martindale left Baltimore," Esiason noted. "I think (Ravens head coach) John Harbaugh probably got sick of him." 

According to the Associated Press (h/t CBS Baltimore), both Martindale and Harbaugh publicly said in October 2022 that they mutually agreed following the 2021 season that "it was just time" they went in different directions. While Esiason challenged the anonymous Giants sources to "put your name on" negative quotes, it seems unlikely anybody will go out of the way to claim ownership of comments shared by individuals such as Leonard this winter.