Blake Martinez is a name that often pops up when speaking of one of the most unusual success stories in the NFL. The former Green Bay inside linebacker, who once made around $30,000,000 by playing in the league, decided to end his pro football career for a bizarre reason. His vision for scaling his Pokemon business came second to none on his list of priorities.
Advertisement
Blake Martinez started his NFL journey as Aaron Rodgers‘ teammate at the Green Bay Packers. After signing a lucrative four-year $2,723,393 rookie contract in 2016, Martinez soon rose to fame after becoming NFL tackles co-leader the very next season. His passion for the sport spoke for itself, however, he realized the dangers associated with it. The risk-to-reward ratio didn’t sit well for Martinez when it came to football so he found an easier way to keep the cash flow intact.
Why Blake Martinez Chose Pokemons Over NFL?
After seven years of grinding in the NFL, Aaron Rodgers’ former teammate took a firm decision that changed his life forever. “I just asked myself,” Martinez told TheAthletic.com. “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? I loved football. But what I found out was I loved building and running my own team even more.”
Update: Former #Packers, #Giants, #Raiders LB Blake Martinez made $11.5 million selling #Pokemon cards and employs nearly 20-full time staffers in his company, according to @zkeefer
One Pikachu Illustrator card alone netted $672,000 at auction for Martinez, while another went… pic.twitter.com/koFUJcRrDU
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) July 15, 2023
After giving it a deep thought, the former Packer finally took the leap of faith into the world of Pokemon business, something he was already into during his days in the NFL. “Isn’t that stuff for kids?”, Blake Martinez recalls the curiosity in his teammates in the Giants locker room.
It was during the pandemic when Blake Martinez came across a headline about Pokemon cards which made him realize he was sitting on a goldmine. His once youthful obsession with Pokemon cards had created a path for him, a path that led him quit NFL. And just like that started his journey to create his own team that he named ‘Blake’s Breaks’.
Blake Martinez’s Vision to go International With His Pokemon Business
Trading his NFL career for a multimillion-dollar dream became successful for Blake after his business started picking up the pace. Blake has generated $11.5 million in total revenue out of which he has earned over $5 million in just seven months. Furthermore, he is projected to earn significantly more than what he could have made in the NFL.
In an interaction with CNBC, Blake stated, “Every single day when I wake up, my shoulder doesn’t hurt and my back doesn’t hurt anymore, 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.”
Blake Martinez already has 20 staffers and has bagged $627,000 from a Pikachu Illustrator card alone at an auction. After taking his business to new heights, Blake plans to go international. He has opened warehouses in Canada and the UK. His unusual story continues to take the sports world by surprise and for a very good reason.
