Dan Salomone
@NYGsalomone
LB Blake Martinez is on a conference call with Giants media. He said he came close with DC Patrick Graham during their year together in Green Bay. What stood out? "How smart he is. He's probably the smartest coach I've ever been around."
Martinez said he never felt unprepared for a play.
What could the defense look like? Martinez: "The aggressive nature. Everyone working on the same page." Martinez said limiting mental mistakes is a major emphasis.
What could the defense look like? Martinez: "The aggressive nature. Everyone working on the same page." Martinez said limiting mental mistakes is a major emphasis.
Martinez on joining a young team and young defense: "I think that's a positive to me." He said it's an extremely talented group with smart players. "It's going to be kind of cool to grow that group together."
Martinez on free agency process: "You were waiting for Christmas to happen."
Blake Martinez said he had other options in free ageny but the Giants "were kind of a no-brainer for me.''
Martinez on Packers teammate Kyler Fackrell also joining the Giants: "We were both excited we were going to be teammates again. ... There are a lot of things he hasn't been able to show."
Fackrell had 10.5 sacks in 2018. Martinez called him one of the best zone coverage linebackers in the NFL. "He's going to be an asset to this team."
Tom Rock
@TomRock_Newsday
Blake Martinez said he had a few other options in FA. "The Giants were the best option for me. Market, Pat Graham, young team. It was a no-brainer for me."
Patricia Traina
@Patricia_Traina
Martinez reiterated that he thinks Graham will make sure every player on defense knows what to do
#NYG LB Blake Martinez said he and #Packers were on "different wave length" when it came to his value in free agency. Said GB doesn't value ILB the way some other teams do.
Salomone Giants.com
Martinez said he was asked to be the "cleanup crew guy" in Green Bay. There weren't any gap responsibilities for him. He hopes to be able to make more impact plays in the Giants' scheme.
Rock Newsday
Blake Martinez says the public misconception of him is that he doesn't make impact plays. He says that his role in the GB D was to be a "clean-up" guy, the only LB on the field, with no gap responsibilities. Basically play off the other guys and go make the leftover plays.
"It was just me doing my job. But going into this (Giants) defense, I hope I'm able to trigger gaps and make impact plays."m
Leonard NYDN
Blake Martinez on a conference call now says he is basically “quarantined in a weight room,” in an extension of family’s house in Arizona where he and his had dad spent years building/putting in extra living space, weight room, turf field, etc. Obviously good timing
Martinez, the new #Giants ILB, says he and #Packers talked but the way he valued himself was not in line with the way GB did. Also is combating misconceptions of his abilities, critical of the GB defense in which he was “taught and told to be the clean-up crew guy.”
Dottino
Martinez said GBay did make him an offer to return, but the sides did not value the ILB position the same way
Rock Newsday
Giants sent Blake Martinez an iPad with all the Giants film from last year, but no playbook since that's a no-no. "Once I'm able to get the playbook that will be my starting point to getting to know the plays and checks and everything."
Martinez says he did a lot of distance learning thru video at Stanford, so he has an understanding of how to make the most of it if that's what the Giants' offseason program winds up being.
Blake Martinez on his coverage: "Last year we played a lot of match coverage zone so it looks like we're in man coverage... You look at it and it's like 'What the heck? Shouldn't Blake be covering him?'"
Adds: "I can do all the things you need to do as an NFL linebacker."
Traina SI.com
Martinez is fantastic on this call. Offering some nice detail about how he was used in GBY and how Patrick Graham might run the defense.
Stapleton The Record
One thing I'll say about Blake Martinez: he is absolutely aware of the public criticism of his game, and believes he can do anything the Giants will ask him to do.
Dottino WFAN
Martinez insists the GBay scheme was not one that called for him to utilize his quality coverage skills.
One thing I liked about the signing - they needed a LB who could run the defense. Ogletree's former team (Rams) thought he played better when he didn't have that added responsibility. One of the major problems obvious to even the non Xs & Os people, like myself, was how much confusion there was. It's a young team but 2 years into the system there should not have been that many mental breakdowns
I think he and Connelly will make a nice tandem.
Martinez said remote learning will be tough relationship-wise with teammates. The biggest disadvantage is not having OTA reps.
Stapleton
Blake Martinez's father Marc owns a construction company and together they built a football facility - complete with a weight room and turf field - near their home in Arizona.
Martinez has been working out there, and it's where he signed his contract with the Giants.
Martinez will be a big one for Giants GM Dave Gettleman.
So far it's been a high-variance ride at ILB for him.
Alec Ogletree trade + contract extension = awful
Nailing Ryan Connelly in Rd. 5 = great (and yeah, I get it, small sample size and all, but personally I've seen enough)
Leonard NYDN
Martinez going into great detail about how Packers used him (or didn’t use him).
Martinez says he had no gap responsibilities in GB this past season and was basically told by DC Mike Pettine to play off whatever Za’Darius and Preston Smith did up front and “make them right.” Hmmm...
Schneier 247Sports
This makes a lot of sense to me. The #Giants system will change on defense, but it looks like they'll continue to be really aggressive on the interior, specifically with the ILBs.
Short-area burst (10-yd split) is what attracted them to Connelly in the last draft.
The problem with this to me anyway, is you cant be the cleanup guy when playing on the outside. We have a 3-4 with likely Martinez and Connely inside. I'm not sure Simmons is physical enough to play inside in the NFL (and unseat Connelly). Mayve I'm wrong but that is my concern
When Graham was in GB, pre-Smiths, Martinez had a very high coverage grade and Fackrell had a big year.
Last year both took a step back in their respective performances as their roles changed with the addition of the Smiths.
None of us know exactly how good either player is and which "grade" is more reflective of their skills, we will see firsthand when this defense rolls out. The fact is however that Graham has in a large part staked his own success on it (Fackrell/Martinez potentially represent ~20% of his starting D). So much of this season is going to come down to these coaches. If they are improvement over the last group we should see improvement on the field even in year 1.
Bottom line is the Giants have had inside linebackers and safeties who are step behind in coverage for a good 5 years.
It's one thing to think you can do it, and another to go do it. I heard the same positivity from Ogletree.
Agreed, all we would be missing if we got Simmons is a premier edge rusher.
He only weighed in 8 pounds lighter at the combine, and he's taller with longer arms. Simmons was faster in the 40, 2 inches shorter in the vert, 2 inches better in the broad jump.
Would to pair this guy with Simmons and turn LB into a strength.