Giants Player Profile | Blake Martinez, ILB

Can Blake Martinez be an impact player in the middle of the Giants defense?

2019 Season Rewind

Blake Martinez recorded the third of three straight 100-tackle seasons in 2019, recording a career-high 155 total tackles, 97 of them being unassisted to go along with 3.0 sacks, 5 tackles for a loss, and an interception in 16 starts.

Despite these numbers, Martinez, back in March, spoke about his role in the Packers defense as being more of a "clean up" type of responsibility in which he was primarily tasked with covering for his teammates. 

There was also some concern about his coverage numbers, in which he allowed an 83% completion rate for 570 yards, but again, a big part of that was how he was deployed in the defense, where it's thought he is better in zone schemes versus man-to-man. 

Martinez will now get an opportunity to reunite with Patrick Graham, who was his position coach in Green Bay during the 2018 season, a year in which Martinez recorded career highs in sacks (5.0) and quarterback hits (six) on 61 blitz attempts

A durable sort,  Martinez has started 57-out-of-64 games while only missing three since entering the league in 2016. The 26-year-old leads the NFL with 443 combined tackles in the past three seasons.

Looking Ahead

The Giants had a major need at inside linebacker heading into this off-season after parting with Alec Ogletree.

Enter Martinez, who signed a three-year, $30 million deal in March and who now will likely become the leader on the Giants defense where he told reporters he anticipates being used in more of an attack role as opposed to being in a "clean up" type of function.

Martinez has always been a good athlete who offers good lateral quickness and shows a determination to get through traffic and sniff out the ball carrier. He doesn’t often get caught up in the wash and can disengage from blockers. 

His ability to diagnose plays could very well end up being one of the most underrated aspects he brings to the Giants defense as he’ll likely be the one directing the traffic for Graham. 

Martinez, during his time with Green Bay, showed very good mental processing which will also be a feather in his cap as his recognition and ability to adjust to what’s unfolding should ensure that the defense doesn’t get caught out of position too often.

Although Martinez’s man-to-man coverage skills are adequate enough, there has been some question regarding whether he has enough speed to make up for lost ground if he gets caught out of position or is asked to cover downfield. 

While we wait to see how Graham plans to deploy his talent, Martinez, a lane disciplined inside linebacker, who thrives in zone coverage, will likely be doing a lot of attacking of the gaps and perhaps even some increased blitzing after only blitzing 24 times last year in Mike Pettine's defense.