Blake Martinez’s career has taken some wild turns over the past 365 days. It was a year ago (almost exactly) that the NFL linebacker abruptly announced his retirement, vanishing from Josh McDaniels’ Las Vegas Raiders roster in the middle of the season.
Why? Well, there were family factors. But it also provided an opportunity for him to spend time focusing on his side business, Blake’s Breaks, a company that focused on selling Pokémon trading cards — and had generated $11.5 million in less than a year. But as of this week, Martinez is back in the NFL after a scandal rocked his card company.
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Patriots-Colts anti-analysis
I’m not here to analyze the Patriots game this Sunday. That sounds like actual work Chris Mason, Mark Daniels, Karen Guregian or Matt Vautour would do (suckers). Instead, I’m here to point out 5-10 observations and general tidbits that have at least a tangential connection to Sunday’s game.
1. The Curious Saga of former Pokémon card magnate Blake Martinez
Martinez, who’s still just 29, signed a practice squad deal with the Carolina Panthers this past week, returning him to the NFL after a brief stint in the private sector.
Martinez told ESPN that (despite reports like ours) he didn’t retire solely to focus on selling Pokémon cards. It was more “family, personal stuff.”
Still, Martinez did use the time to further promote Blake’s Breaks, a company that featured live streams of “breaks,” which featured a host opening card packs in real-time.
However, the company faced a scandal earlier this year. An employee for Blake’s Breaks, which reportedly had as many as 20 full-time employees, was accused of using sleight of hand as part of a scam to mislead buyers. Martinez later apologized and admitted that the “optics” were not good.
Eventually, the company was removed from the card-selling platform Whatnot.
“After a comprehensive investigation into Blakesbreaks’ operations we have decided to permanently remove the seller from our platform, including the individual employees involved in misconduct,” the marketplace announced.
Martinez told ESPN that Blake’s Breaks is on hold as it works through what he calls “false claims” against the company. In the meantime, ESPN reports that Martinez’s former linebackers coach from Stanford gave him a call to see if he was interested to help Carolina out after the team was hit with injuries.
“He was like, ‘Hey, you still feeling it?’’’ Martinez said to ESPN. “I was getting the dad bod that was slowly coming on at that point. So, I was like, ‘Yeah, I still I think got it.’ So, I started training and had a workout about two weeks ago and got the call.”
Martinez has seven NFL seasons under his belt. He started his career with the Green Bay Packers as a fourth-round pick out of Stanford in 2016. He went on to lead the NFL in tackles with 144 during the 2017 season. In 2019, he posted a career-high 155 tackles.
Martinez went on to play two seasons with the New York Giants before landing with the Raiders in 2022. Martinez worked his way back from a season-ending ACL tear the year before to make it onto the field. He looked good, playing 91% of snaps and leading the team with 11 tackles in his fourth game. But then, out of nowhere, he retired four days later.
Now, McDaniels has since been fired by the Raiders, Blake’s Breaks is on hiatus and Martinez is on the Panthers. It goes to show how much things can change in a year.
2. Bill Belichick might spend some time working on his German this week
On Wednesday, Belichick had a fun exchange with reporters ahead of the team’s trip to Frankfurt.
Question: Do you know any German?
Belichick: “I don’t.”
Question: What’s a phrase you want to learn while you’re over there?
Belichick: “Yeah, I’ll have to do my homework on that one. Let me get back to you on that.”
Question: ‘Win’, maybe?
Belichick: “Yeah, ‘Patriots win?’ What’s the word for that? I’ve been spoken to in German, just don’t know what was said.”
3. Name of the Week: OT Arlington Hambright
Fun fact: Hambright spent part of 2022 in New England, signing a reserve/future contract before being let go at the end of training camp.
4. The “He’s On That Team Now?” Player of the Week: DB Ameer Speed
A few of you may recognize that name. That’s because Speed was drafted by the Patriots this year in the sixth round out of Michigan State. However, they ended up losing him after placing him on waivers. The team was likely trying to get him on the practice squad, but couldn’t manage to sneak him through waivers as the Colts scooped him up.
