Blake Martinez is one of the guys with the most to prove during the 2022 season. The New York Giants linebacker is returning from a torn ACL injury and wants to show the league that he can still be a useful player on defense, especially after he took a pay cut to remain with the franchise for this season.

Martinez moved from the Green Bay Packers to the Giants in the 2020 season, following his exasperated exhibition in the NFC Championship Game, when he was exploited over and over again by Kyle Shanahan’s rushing offense and had a dismal night trying to stop Raheem Mostert.

He got a nice contract from the New York team though, as Dave Gettleman believed that he could’ve become a star in Patrick Graham’s defense. To be fair, Martinez was a useful linebacker in his first year with the team, making a lot of plays and displaying some good traits on coverage; his 2021 season was cut short, however, after he suffered a major knee injury in Week 3 that ended his season prematurely and made him an afterthought on defense. Had Martinez refused to take the pay cut, he would surely be released by the new regime.

#Giants LB Blake Martinez is a player to watch over the next week. Due $8.525 million this season (cap number: $14.025m) and coming off a torn ACL. Team is interested in retaining him but trying to rework his deal, sources say. Resolution has to work for both sides. We'll see.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 7, 2022

blake martinez fitting 16/17 flow by BAL

times the kickout on EMOL perfectly

this is 54's play of the year pic.twitter.com/UjwAaWMZTv

— rohan (@all22nerd) December 31, 2020

He was a consistent linebacker before. With four straight seasons with at least 144 tackles, the NFL knew that Martinez wasn’t just a bad player from what they saw in that NFC Championship Game, which is why he earned a new contract with the Giants in free agency. He’ll have a great opportunity to show other franchises that he can still play at a high level, even after a serious injury.

here's 2 plays where blake martinez misses dalvin tomlinson

– giants in a TITE front on the first play, martinez unable to play off of 0t as he did with dalvin last year
– 2nd play, 2i does nothing to protect the climb, martinez has no chance to fit the b-gap

75 sucks ass pic.twitter.com/Nhehz6zyuL

— rohan (@all22nerd) September 20, 2021

The goal for Martinez is to get back to where he was before: a tackling machine with not much athletic ability but really intelligent in the middle of the field. If he’s slow returning from injury, though, you can be sure he’s not going to be a New York Giant in 2023.

More NFL News:
Jets Keep Winning From Sam Darnold Trade
Two-time Super Bowl winner LeSean McCoy aims cheeky pop at Bill Belichick while commending Tom Brady
How many Super Bowl rings did Julian Edelman win with the New England Patriots?