3. NY Giants LB Blake Martinez
One of David Gettleman’s key defensive additions ahead of the 2020 season, Blake Martinez now only has one year left on his contract. He originally signed a three-year, $30 million contract joining the Giants project and leaving the Packers in 2020. Martinez restructured his deal to come back for this fall.
Martinez was a cog in the Giants defense that was not far off from leading the team to a playoff appearance in 2020 under now-departed defensive coordinator Patrick Graham – now the defensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders. Don ‘Wink’ Martindale will have no issue fitting the tackling machine into his scheme.
Before becoming the defensive coordinator for the Ravens, Martindale was the linebackers coach and worked closely with Ray Lewis. This means Martindale knows his linebackers. Martinez is a talented player and a fan favorite, but he will be recovering from an ACL injury that typically takes you up to two years to fully recover from.
This means the 28-year-old linebacker is not entering the 2022 campaign at his fullest. Not only that, but most players do not reach the level they were once at prior to such an injury. This may lead to the Giants possibly taking their chance at moving on and signing or drafting another linebacker. Martinez has some work to do if he wants to return in ’23.