Pittsburgh Steelers sign linebacker Blake Martinez from Panthers practice squad to active roster

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed linebacker Blake Martinez from the Panthers practice squad to the active roster on Tuesday, according to Adam Schefter. Martinez only recently made his return to the league following a brief retirement. He signed to the Panthers practice squad on Nov. 6, however, he didn’t record a stat with the team before making the move to Pittsburgh this week.

The Steelers are coming off of a close loss against the Cleveland Browns, which led to to the firing of offensive coordinator Matt Canada. The team also brought linebacker Myles Jack out of retirement this week, signing the former Jaguars star to the practice roster.

Jack originally signed with Pittsburgh in the 2022 offseason on a two-year deal worth $16 million. The two parties split ways, however, opening the linebacker up to sign a one-year, $1.6 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite signing that deal, Jack retired two weeks later and hasn’t played yet this season.

Martinez, a former Stanford star, began his career with four straight years with the Packers. He signed a $30 million deal as a free agent with the Giants in March 2020. He then tore his ACL early in the 2021 season, which led to his eventual release from the Giants. In 2022, he signed with the Raiders, coming back from the knee injury to play defense before retiring.

Blake Martinez makes NFL return following Pokemon card scandal

His entire career took an abrupt turn when he decided to sell a pristine Pikachu Illustrator card for $672,000. Since then, he’s become a full-time Pokémon businessman with his company generating $11.5 million in revenues.

However, the trading card revenue stream may have run dry. Blake’s Breaks, his collectibles company, was banned from selling on the Whatnot marketplace following allegations of fraudulent sales popped up on Reddit. The marketplace responded by banning his account and refunding customers who weren’t satisfied with their deals with Blake’s Breaks.

“I understand the optics,” Martinez said of the Whatnot issues during a video post on Instagram. “I know the type of business I run…  Made a good amount of money — everybody knows, in the NFL — (and) I knew stepping into this (I) was going to have a target on my back.”

Not only was the ban from Whatnot detrimental to the sale of the cards, but Martinez also had multiple full-time employees who would stream for hours a day live on the platform.