Why NY Giants’ Blake Martinez can make First-Team All-Pro

NY Giants inside linebacker Blake Martinez had a case for being a “snub” for Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors last season, but that could change in 2021

Blake Martinez is good.

As we know the when the NY Giants are good, they have a great defense.  Their culture is based on those great defenses like “The Crunch Bunch” and the “Nascar Package”.

Linebackers have always been the calling card since the days of Sam Huff to Harry Carson and Carl Banks, to the Greatest of All Time Lawrence Taylor.

Within the last 20 years many have come and gone. Some have been very good; Jesse Armstead and Antonio Pierce to name a couple.

Martinez fits that mold of a great linebacker and the former Stanford star made a huge first impression on the Giants world when he came over from Green Bay as a free agent.

Amazingly enough NY Giants general manager Dave Gettleman actually took some criticism for signing Martinez to a three-year, $30 million contract, because he is not a speedster with great cover skills.

That is true, what Martinez is, is a tackling machine, totaling 151 last year.  What Martinez is, is a true captain on the field with instincts galore that always put him in the correct position to blow up a play. That is the hole that needed to be filled, that is why you get him.

Martinez very easily could have been First Team All-Pro last year.

The numbers speak for themselves. Tackles, as we discussed we discussed, 151 of them, three sacks, and an interception.  How do you even improve on that?

The NY Giants have spent their resources through free agency and the draft rather smartly the last few years.  Andrew Thomas was a need pick, but very little depth last year on the defensive line hurt.  While losing Dalvin Thomlinson, they re-signed Leonard Williams and Austin Johnson then signed free agent Danny Shelton. Dexter Lawrence is an emerging star, add in young linebackers to play next to Martinez in free agent signing Reggie Ragland and 2nd year player Tae Crowder;  Martinez has help all around him.

This allows him to open up his game and focus on what he does and that is adjust the defense where necessary and make tackles.

With youth and depth around him, the best of Blake Martinez is still come.  It starts with a First Team All-Pro season in 2021.