I’m former Aaron Rodgers teammate who made $11m trading Pokemon cards before being banned over alleged scam
Blake Martinez has certainly had a curious career. The linebacker swapped sacking quarterbacks for dealing Pokemon cards, retired, and then jumped back into the NFL when it all went wrong. Martinez retired from the NFL to make millions selling Pokemon cards, but his business came crashing downGetty And he did all of that before the age of 30. Back in 2016, after a successful college career, Martinez was drafted into the NFL by the Green Bay Packers. As a fourth round pick, he walked straight into the team in his rookie season, which at the time was lead by legendary quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Over the next four years, he missed just three games, and went to the playoffs twice with Green Bay having established himself as one of the best linebackers in the league. Martinez hit free agency in 2020, and was signed to a three-year, $30million contract by the New York Giants. His time at Metlife Stadium was less fruitful, and after playing all 16 games in his first year with New York, Martinez suffered a season-ending torn ACL on Week 3 of the 2021 season. Less than 12 months later, he was released. But as one door closes, another one opens. Martinez landed on the Las Vegas Raiders’ practice squad, and fought his way back onto the field. In a Week 9 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, he piled up a team-best 11 tackles, and proved he could still play football at the top level. But Martinez’s mind was elsewhere. He had fallen in love with Pokemon again. Martinez played alongside four-time MVP quarterback Rodgers with the PackersGetty But after bouncing around the NFL, he retired at 28 to sell Pokemon cardsAFP In recent years, the cards have skyrocketed in value. Those who can get their hands on rare cards that are still in excellent condition have the opportunity to make some serious cash. And that’s exactly what Martinez did. Per The Athletic, Martinez started buying into online ‘breaks’ – live streams in which the seller opens a customer’s newly-purchased pack of cards, revealing their value in real time. But he wasn’t making much money at the beginning, and thought it would be much more exciting – and lucrative – to rip open the packs himself. Martinez started pouring more and more money into his dream, and was eventually pointed in the direction of Whatnot, a shopping platform that specializes in collectibles. Martinez became well-known for his online streams, and made millions dealing cardsGetty His first stream on the platform netted the former linebacker $108,000 in profit, and he quickly kicked on. “The more people I connected with, the knowledge just kept growing and growing and growing, and the real ones started to respect me,” Martinez told The Athletic in 2023. “Finally, it was sort of like, ‘Hey, Blake’s one of us now.’” He went on to establish his own business, Blake’s Breaks, and it took off immediately. At its peak, Martinez had hired nearly 20 full-time staffers, and collectively hosted 16 hours of live streams per day, establishing one of the biggest Pokemon channels on Whatnot. Just over a week before that game against Jacksonville in 2022, he had sold a single card for $672,000, and soon after announced his retirement from the NFL at the age of 28. Martinez said in July 2023: “I just asked myself, do I want to keep starting over from ground zero with football, and keep destroying my body, or do I want to start over from ground zero here, and do something I can actually sustain for a long time?” In the same profile in The Athletic, he claimed that revenues for Blake’s Breaks had climbed past the $11.5m mark in just one year. Unfortunately, though, Martinez was unable to sustain his dream for as long as he wanted. Come August 2023, he was permanently banned from Whatnot amid allegations of scamming customers. After multiple people took to social media with accusations of wrongdoing, the marketplace announced that a ‘comprehensive investigation’ had led to the removal of his account. Most of the allegations centered on Marisa Snee, a college soccer player Martinez had recruited personally to join his company, while the NFL star’s selling conduct was also criticized. Martinez signed a $30m contract with the Giants before suffering a season-ending injury in 2021Getty Per a later report from The Athletic, Martinez initially tried to downplay the scandal and urged his employees not to address the situation. On a stream after the accusations were made public, he didn’t apologize, nor did he admit to any wrongdoing or scamming. But with Blake’s Breaks removed from Whatnot, his selling success screeched to a halt, and his business was put on pause. According to ESPN, Martinez said there were ‘a lot of things out there that aren’t true, a lot of speculations, a lot of false claims.’ NFL's Greatest......
Blake Martinez has certainly had a curious career.
The linebacker swapped sacking quarterbacks for dealing Pokemon cards, retired, and then jumped back into the NFL when it all went wrong.
And he did all of that before the age of 30.
Back in 2016, after a successful college career, Martinez was drafted into the NFL by the Green Bay Packers.
As a fourth round pick, he walked straight into the team in his rookie season, which at the time was lead by legendary quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Over the next four years, he missed just three games, and went to the playoffs twice with Green Bay having established himself as one of the best linebackers in the league.
Martinez hit free agency in 2020, and was signed to a three-year, $30million contract by the New York Giants.
His time at Metlife Stadium was less fruitful, and after playing all 16 games in his first year with New York, Martinez suffered a season-ending torn ACL on Week 3 of the 2021 season.
Less than 12 months later, he was released. But as one door closes, another one opens.
Martinez landed on the Las Vegas Raiders’ practice squad, and fought his way back onto the field.
In a Week 9 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, he piled up a team-best 11 tackles, and proved he could still play football at the top level.
But Martinez’s mind was elsewhere. He had fallen in love with Pokemon again.
In recent years, the cards have skyrocketed in value.
Those who can get their hands on rare cards that are still in excellent condition have the opportunity to make some serious cash.
And that’s exactly what Martinez did.
Per The Athletic, Martinez started buying into online ‘breaks’ – live streams in which the seller opens a customer’s newly-purchased pack of cards, revealing their value in real time.
But he wasn’t making much money at the beginning, and thought it would be much more exciting – and lucrative – to rip open the packs himself.
Martinez started pouring more and more money into his dream, and was eventually pointed in the direction of Whatnot, a shopping platform that specializes in collectibles.
His first stream on the platform netted the former linebacker $108,000 in profit, and he quickly kicked on.
“The more people I connected with, the knowledge just kept growing and growing and growing, and the real ones started to respect me,” Martinez told The Athletic in 2023.
“Finally, it was sort of like, ‘Hey, Blake’s one of us now.’”
He went on to establish his own business, Blake’s Breaks, and it took off immediately.
At its peak, Martinez had hired nearly 20 full-time staffers, and collectively hosted 16 hours of live streams per day, establishing one of the biggest Pokemon channels on Whatnot.
Just over a week before that game against Jacksonville in 2022, he had sold a single card for $672,000, and soon after announced his retirement from the NFL at the age of 28.
Martinez said in July 2023: “I just asked myself, do I want to keep starting over from ground zero with football, and keep destroying my body, or do I want to start over from ground zero here, and do something I can actually sustain for a long time?”
In the same profile in The Athletic, he claimed that revenues for Blake’s Breaks had climbed past the $11.5m mark in just one year.
Unfortunately, though, Martinez was unable to sustain his dream for as long as he wanted.
Come August 2023, he was permanently banned from Whatnot amid allegations of scamming customers.
After multiple people took to social media with accusations of wrongdoing, the marketplace announced that a ‘comprehensive investigation’ had led to the removal of his account.
Most of the allegations centered on Marisa Snee, a college soccer player Martinez had recruited personally to join his company, while the NFL star’s selling conduct was also criticized.
Per a later report from The Athletic, Martinez initially tried to downplay the scandal and urged his employees not to address the situation.
On a stream after the accusations were made public, he didn’t apologize, nor did he admit to any wrongdoing or scamming.
But with Blake’s Breaks removed from Whatnot, his selling success screeched to a halt, and his business was put on pause.
According to ESPN, Martinez said there were ‘a lot of things out there that aren’t true, a lot of speculations, a lot of false claims.’
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“I learned a lot,” he went on to say about the venture.
“There’s a lot more due diligence in the things I was doing, the process I was going through, the people I was bringing on, just to make sure those things didn’t happen.”
In November 2023, Martinez made his return to the NFL, signing a deal to join the Carolina Panthers practice squad.
Two weeks later, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed him to their 53-man roster, and he featured in one regular season game that year.
He has since become a free agent again.
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