Sam Darnold’s redemptive rise began before he joined the Seahawks last year, but the quarterback hit new heights in the last few weeks.
An overtime win over the Rams in Week 16 and a Week 18 wipeout of the 49ers made Seattle the NFC West champs before a rout of the 49ers sent them to the NFC Championship Game against those same Rams. Darnold dealt with an oblique injury all week, but went 25-of-36 for 346 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-27 win that will go down as his finest NFL hour.
It didn’t take long for a reminder of his earlier struggles to surface, however. Darnold began his career as the third overall pick by the Jets in 2018 and the lasting memory of his three years with the team was a four-interception game against the Patriots on a Monday night in 2019. Darnold wore a microphone for that game and was captured telling coaches he was “seeing ghosts” on the field during the 33-0 loss.
During Sunday’s postgame press conference, Darnold was asked about the journey from that point to facing the Patriots again in Super Bowl LX.
“I almost forgot about it, so thanks. No, you’re good,” Darnold said, via a transcript from the team. “I think for me, there was a lot that I didn’t know back then, so I’m just going to continue to learn and grow in this great game. There is a lot of stuff that I can get better from today even. I feel like I missed some throws out there that I shouldn’t miss. There were some things offensively that I feel like we can do better. So we’re always looking to get better. I’m always looking to get better. That’s the great part about this game is you win an NFC Championship and you win games throughout the season, but there is always ways that you can look to get better.”
No one was predicting trips to the Super Bowl for Darnold when he was melting down against New England or when he was struggling with the Panthers, but the door opened for him with the Vikings last year. A late-season swoon marred that comeback, but Darnold kept getting better in Seattle and he could finish his improbable career reinvention at Levi’s Stadium in two weeks.
Wink Martindale is flying to New York on Saturday to interview for the Jets’ vacant defensive coordinator job, Connor Hughes of SNYtv reports.
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn made significant changes to his coaching staff after a 3-14 record in his first season.
The Jets, who finished 25th in yards allowed (355.6) and 31st in points (29.6) and forced only four takeaways, are seeking to replace Steve Wilks, whom they fired after a Week 15 loss to the Jaguars.
Martindale, 62, has seven years of NFL defensive coordinator experience with the Broncos (2010), Ravens (2018-21) and the Giants (2022-23). He spent the past two seasons in Ann Arbor as Michigan’s defensive coordinator under Sherrone Moore.
The Jets also have interviewed interim defensive coordinator Chris Harris, Broncos defensive pass game coordinator and assistant head coach Jim Leonhard, Vikings defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Daronte Jones, Lions defensive assistant Jim O’Neil, Packers defensive line coach and run game coordinator DeMarcus Covington, Browns safeties coach Ephraim Banda and Dolphins cornerbacks coach Mathieu Araujo’.
The Jets are also looking for a new quarterbacks coach, defensive line coach, linebackers coach and a passing game coordinator, among others.
When John Harbaugh became head coach of the Ravens, he inherited defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. Eighteen years later, Harbaugh could be bringing Ryan in.
Via Michael McCarthy of FrontOfficeSports.com, Harbaugh didn’t dismiss the possibility of hiring Ryan to serve as the Giants’ defensive coordinator.
“Why not?” Harbaugh said in an appearance on WFAN. “Could you imagine Rex coming back in here? I’m not ruling anything out. A guy like Rex, he’s around the game, he knows the game. He’s going to have to get updated a little bit with some of the scheme stuff, but I’ll tell you, no one calls a better game than Rex Ryan.”
After one year with Harbaugh, Ryan became the head coach of the Jets, where he worked from 2009 through 2014. He then coached the Bills in 2015 and 2016. He has spent the last 10 years at ESPN.
Two years ago, Ryan emerged as a candidate for the defensive coordinator job in Dallas. He claimed that he would have gotten the job over Mike Zimmer, if owner/G.M. Jerry Jones hadn’t lowballed him.
Ryan’s defense creates chaos. And even though the game has indeed changed since he last coached, it’s still 11-on-11 football. The goal of any defense is to deploy its players in a way that short circuits the play that the offense has called. Ryan was able to do that well enough to earn two head-coaching jobs.
And while some head coaches may be intimidated by Ryan’s triple-XL personality, John Harbaugh won’t be. Harbaugh, who was never an offensive or defensive coordinator, will want to delegate those assignments to coaches he can trust to do the job well. It already worked between Harbaugh and Ryan in 2008, culminating in an appearance in the AFC Championship in their only year together.
Could it work again? As Harbaugh said, “Why not?”
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn is significantly changing his coaching staff.
Glenn has fired quarterbacks coach Charles London, pass game coordinator Scott Turner, linebackers coach Aaron Curry, defensive line coach Eric Washington, assistant defensive backs coach Dre Bly, defensive assistant Alonso Escalante and defensive assistant Roosevelt Williams, according to multiple reports.
The Jets hired Glenn a year ago, and his first year was so bad that some wondered if he’d be one-and-done. Glenn was retained, but he’s going to have a very different coaching staff, especially on defense, where he has already fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and is in the process of interviewing replacements.
The departures of London and Turner will mean significant changes to the passing offense, although that was to be expected anyway given that the Jets will certainly bring in a new quarterback after a disappointing 2025 season from Justin Fields.
Whatever other changes are coming, Glenn needs the Jets to be a much better team in Year Two, or else he won’t get a Year Three.
The Jets met virtually with eight candidates in the first round of interviews for their vacant defensive coordinator job, the team announced Friday.
They have completed interviews with Wink Martindale, Jim Leonhard, Chris Harris, Jim O’Neil, DeMarcus Covington, Daronte Jones, Mathieu Araujob and Ephraim Banda.
Martindale, 65, has the most play-calling experience of the group. He has spent the past two seasons as defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan after two seasons (2022-23) as the Giants’ defensive coordinator, six seasons as the Ravens’ defensive coordinator (2012-17) and one season as the Broncos’ defensive coordinator (2010).
Leonhard, who started 40 games over three seasons as a safety for the Jets, has served as the Broncos’ defensive backs coach/pass game coordinator for the past two seasons. He added assistant head coach to his title this season.
Harris joined Aaron Glenn’s staff as defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator last offseason and finished as interim defensive coordinator after Steve Wilks’ firing.
O’Neil coached with Glenn in Detroit, where O’Neil worked as a defensive assistant in 2024-25. He got his first NFL gig with the Jets in 2009 as a defensive quality control coach before serving as assistant defensive backs coach from 2010-12. He was the Browns’ defensive coordinator for two seasons (2014-15), along with NFL stops as an assistant in Buffalo (2013), San Francisco (2016) and Oakland/Las Vegas (2019-20).
Covington also has experience as a defensive coordinator in the NFL, holding that position with New England during the 2024 season. He first joined the Patriots in 2016 under Bill Belichick. In 2025, Covington was the defensive line coach/run game coordinator with Green Bay.
Jones was the passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach with the Vikings. He arrived in Minnesota in 2020, leaving for one season to be LSU’s defensive coordinator in 2021.
Araujo spent the past four seasons with the Dolphins, coaching the defensive backs.
Banda has been the Browns’ safeties coach since 2023 after spending several years coaching in college.
