The Colts have been linked to a familiar face for their latest scheduled interview with a top defensive coordinator candidate this week.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Indianapolis Colts are among the NFL teams that are expected to interview University of Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale for their own respective vacancy.
That scheduled interview will reportedly occur on Wednesday of this week:
Longtime NFL defensive coordinator Wink Martindale is scheduled to interview with the #Falcons today and the #Colts on Wednesday, per sources.
The #Bengals also could have interest in Martindale, who is college football’s highest-paid coordinator at Michigan. One to watch. pic.twitter.com/iV6KsWxXn0
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 14, 2025
It’s not the first time that the Colts have expressed interest in the veteran defensive coordinator for a potential coaching position under general manager Chris Ballard’s tenure.
Specifically, Martindale interviewed for the Colts’ head coaching job back in the early 2023 offseason before the franchise ultimately elected to hire current soon-to-be 3rd-year head coach Shane Steichen.
Prior to joining the Wolverines, Martindale most notably served as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants (2022-23), the Baltimore Ravens (2018-21), and Denver Broncos (2010) among his other prior coaching stops—which also included a lengthy stint as the Ravens linebackers coach (2012-17) before being promoted.
His NFL defensive units have fared as follows in allowed points against:
- 2010- Broncos: 32nd
- 2018- Ravens: 2nd
- 2019- Ravens: 3rd
- 2020- Ravens: 2nd
- 2021-Ravens: 19th
- 2022- Giants: 17th
- 2023- Giants: 26th
Like the other defensive coordinator coaching candidates that the Colts have been linked to so far in this coaching cycle, Martindale doesn’t typically play a vanilla 4-3 base with traditional Cover 2/Cover 3 zone coverages.
He’d also bring some arguably much needed gruffness, experience, and accountability to the Colts locker room to further complement young head coach Shane Steichen’s staff.
