Ex-LB Blake Martinez made $5M in 7 months selling Pokemon cards

Former NFL linebacker Blake Martinez has found a lucrative new career in trading cards.

Martinez, who retired from the NFL midway through the 2022 season, has made more than $5 million in the past seven months selling Pokemon cards through his company Blake's Breaks, according to Megan Sauer of CNBC.

The 29-year-old launched Blake's Breaks in July 2022 while he was a member of the Giants but didn't commit to the venture full time until he retired in November.

"I think there's more to my success than (my name)," Martinez said. "I used to be like the quarterback of the defense; I was calling plays. When I started this business, it felt like running a team again."

Martinez first started collecting Pokemon cards as a child and got back into the hobby in early 2020, auctioning off cards on the reselling platform Whatnot. He sold one card for $672,000 in October through Goldin Auctions.

"Every single day when I wake up, my shoulder doesn't hurt and my back doesn't hurt anymore," Martinez said. "When all that hurts are my fingers from opening, like, 1,000 packs of cards per day, I think, 'I'm going to keep doing this.'"

A fourth-round pick in the 2016 draft, Martinez tallied 706 combined tackles, 39 tackles for a loss, and 13 sacks across six-and-a-half seasons with the Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and Las Vegas Raiders.

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