Former tackles leader comes out of retirement

A fourth-round pick out of Stanford in 2016, Martinez enjoyed four productive seasons in Green Bay and one with the Giants. He had 144 or more combined tackles in four straight seasons from 2017-20, leading the league in 2017.

Martinez suffered a torn ACL early on in the 2021 season and was released by the Giants during the preseason the following year. He signed with the Raiders midway through the 2022 season and was with the team for only a month before announcing his retirement.

After he retired, Martinez opened up in an interview about how he had found success with a Pokemon card business. He said he did not want to “keep destroying my body” by playing in the NFL and was more passionate about running his business than playing football.

Martinez said his Pokemon card business brought in more than $11 million in 2022, but the venture was banned by online marketplace Whatnot after an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing.

It's unclear if that outcome led to Martinez's interest in returning to football, but the linebacker will make a go of it regardless.