It was easy to see coming, and this year more than ever as he navigated a litany of injuries. Aaron Glenn has left his post as Detroit Lions defensive coordinator to be the head coach of the New York Jets, which was also easy to see coming.
So Dan Campbell has to replace both of his coordinators, which he openly told reporters he expected to have to do on Monday morning. By that afternoon Ben Johnson was gone, and about 48 hours after that so is Glenn.
In anticipation that Glenn would be gone to a head coaching job, we did a list of potential candidates to replace him as Lions defensive coordinator back in late-November.
One candidate from that list, former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen, is reportedly a strong candidate to be Johnson's defensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears. Another, former Jets' head coach Robert Saleh, appears to be a top candidate for the Jacksonville Jaguars' head coaching job. So the first two head coaches who were fired in the middle of this season now have, let's call it "diminished" candidacy for the Lions' defensive coordinator job.
It's clearly time for a fresher list of candidates to replace Glenn.
5 potential candidates to replace Aaron Glenn as Lions defensive coordinator
5. Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale
With a massive hat-tip to Christian Booher of SI.com, Martindale makes a lot of sense as a candidate to replace Glenn. He favors a blitz-heavy style similar to how Glenn did/does.
Prior to this past season as Michigan's defensive coordinator, Martindale worked exclusively in the NFL going back to 2004, including three stints as a defensive coordinator-Denver Broncos, 2010; Baltimore Ravens, 2018-2021; New York Giants, 2022-2023).
Last week, Martindale interviewed for three NFL defensive coordinator jobs (Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts). All three have now filled their openings, leaving "Wink" with no other options to come back to the NFL if that's what he wants.
An interview with the Lions could very will be coming now if he's willing to take it, and if he got the job replacing Glenn Martindale wouldn't even have to move.