New York Giants use free agency to fill major needs

Blake Martinez

Every defense needs a leader. Gettleman found his in Blake Martinez.

Martinez was the Green Back Packers 2016 fourth-round draft pick out of Stanford University. He played his entire career for Green Bay until now, after agreeing to a three-year deal worth $30M dollars with the New York Giants. This isn’t the Jadeveon Clowney or Yannick Ngakoue signing most fans were hoping for but is still a solid pickup for the G-Men.

Martinez is as durable as they come in this brutal game. He started all 16 regular-season games for three consecutive years. Additionally, he was on the field for at least 93 percent of Green Bay’s defensive snaps during that span. It’s fair to say Martinez was the engine that made the defense go.

Known as a tackling machine, Martinez ranked second in the entire league in total tackles the past two seasons after tying with Preston Brown and Joe Schobert for most in the NFL in 2017. He averaged 147.6 tackles per season between 2017 and 2019. Last year he was again second in the NFL with 97 solo and 155 combination tackles.

Martinez will prove to be an instant upgrade over Alec Ogletree and improve the Giants’defense overall. Missing tackles was somewhat of a specialty for Big Blue’s defensive unit last year, which was one of the main contributing factors to them ranking 20th in rushing yards allowed per game in addition to allowing the fourth-most rushing touchdowns last year. Signing Martinez is a classic Dave Gettleman stop the run signing.

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