After first practicing for the NFC South team on October 25, it is announced that former New York Giants linebacker Blake Martinez is returning to the NFL with the Carolina Panthers.
The Bleach Report On November 6, NFL insider Jordan Schultz broke the story, saying, “Sources tell @BleacherReport that veteran LB Blake Martinez is coming out of retirement and is signing with the Panthers.”
“Martinez, who has over 700 career tackles and 39 TFLs, played his first six years with the Green Bay Packers and Giants before joining the [Las Vegas] Raiders,” Schultz said.
After agreeing to a $30.75 million contract, Martinez only started 19 games in two seasons with the Big Blue. After recording three sacks, ten TFLs, two forced fumbles, one interception, and 174 total tackles while a Giant, he was chosen as the defensive team captain in 2020.
You may have heard the tale of Martinez’s sudden retirement from football at the age of 28 in order to purchase and trade Pokémon cards. All of it is real.
Martinez’s business, “Blake’s Breaks,” was really very successful during its brief but exciting existence in the trading card industry. On July 14, 2023, Zak Keefer of The AthAt the time, Keefer revealed, “[Martinez] started his own company, Blake’s Breaks, and it took off immediately.” Since then, Martinez has brought on about 20 full-time employees, and between them, they have hosted 16 hours of live streaming every day, making them one of the most popular Pokémon channels on Whatnot.
Athletic authored a feature piece describing this extraordinary career transition.
Whatnot is a self-described “social marketplace where you can discover some of your favourite products through live [online] auctions,” for those who are not familiar with it.
Martinez allegedly used this platform to create a company that “climbed past $11.5 million” in sales “in less than a year,” according to The Athletic.
His business had tremendous success. Unfortunately, fate had other ideas at that point.
Whatnot decided to prohibit Blake’s Breaks and Martinez on August 4, 2023 following an official inquiry that yielded refunds for customers.
Whatnot wrote on X at the time, “We really appreciate the community’s commitment to reporting trust & safety issues.” “Maintaining our community rules and giving clients a fair and honest experience are our top priorities. Following a thorough examination of Blakesbreaks’ business practices, we have made the decision to permanently ban the seller from our platform, along with any offending staff.
Later, Blake’s Breaks had “been embroiled in controversy… following a series of accusations from customers and fellow card game streamers,” according to a statement made by writer Alan Lopez for NintendoLife.com.
Among the purported con techniques mentioned by Lopez were “theft from customer orders, sleight of hand, and trading card pack manipulation.”
Giants and Panthers are vying for the first draught pick.
Speaking of Carolina, Martinez’s future home, the Panthers (1-7) and Giants (2-7) are squarely vying for the top draught selection. However, the NFC South team traded its selection to the Chicago Bears in 2023, thus they no longer even retain the rights to it.
Still, going into Week 10, the Giants are ahead of the Panthers by one game, regardless of who gets to the podium—Carolina or Chicago.
The Arizona Cardinals (1-8), whom the G-Men defeated in Week 2, are also lagging behind; but, Kyler Murray’s return may lead to a second-half comeback in the desert.
In the mix with their own pick are the New England Patriots (2-7) and the Bears (2-7).
In the upcoming weeks, anticipate an increasing number of people to pay attention to that position given the Giants’ current quarterback issue. After all, there’s optimism in the potential of elite quarterbacks Caleb Williams and Drake Maye, if nothing else.
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