The Pittsburgh Steelers are bolstering their inside linebacker group, signing Carolina Panthers LB Blake Martinez off their practice squad, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Clearly, this is the biggest news of the day.
Martinez recently returned to the NFL after retiring in November 2022. He decided to give football another try in late October, getting his release from the Las Vegas Raiders and signing to the Panthers practice squad Nov. 6. Now he’s on the Steelers’ 53-man roster. Because he was signed off another team’s practice squad, he will occupy that spot on the roster for at least three weeks. Meaning, even if the Steelers released him, they could not fill his spot with another player. It essentially means Martinez will be with the team for at least the next three games.
Martinez retired after selling his Pokémon collection for reportedly $5 million. But his trading card hobby got into hot water when he was banned by the app Whatot for allegedly scamming customers. If you’re inclined, you can read more about at that link.
He hasn’t appeared in an NFL game since Nov. 6, 2022, playing 63 snaps on defense for the Raiders. He finished with 11 tackles. Now 29 years old, Martinez spent most of his time with the Green Bay Packers after getting drafted in the fourth round out of Stanford.
For his career, Martinez has appeared in 84 games, starting 78. He’s recorded 706 tackles, including a league-leading 144 of them in 2017. He also owns 13 career sacks and four interceptions.
Martinez will help a unit that’s dealt with season-ending injuries to Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander. In Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns, Elandon Roberts and Mykal Walker served as the team’s two linebackers with Roberts playing every single snap. Second-year player Mark Robinson did not log a single defensive snap.
Yesterday, the Steelers also announced they had signed LB Myles Jack to the practice squad. He retired earlier this year before unretiring and re-joining the Steelers, whom he led in tackles in 2022.
