In a surprising move, the New York Giants cut star linebacker, Blake Martinez. What does this mean from an IDP perspective?
Just when you thought that the drama from cuts had been completed, the New York Giants left us with a bombshell. Blake Martinez, the Giants’ star linebacker, has been waived from the team. In our IDP invitational league, he was drafted around LB12, so this is no small thing. How did we get here? Let’s dive into the fantasy implications of this monumental decision by the Giants.
How did we get here?
A grown man lost his job, so this is no time to gloat. That being said, I might have called Martinez’s demise when I called him my bust for the Giants’ defense over on our TikTok (check out that video here). I’m saying there was no guarantee that Martinez would be the linebacker we grew to know before his ACL injury, and this move supports that narrative.
An absolute stud thus far in his career, Martinez averaged 150 combined tackles a year before his injury. In Week 3, Martinez tore his ACL, rendering his 2021 campaign over. So why would the Giants get rid of this tackling machine? Either he hasn’t recovered fully from his injury, or they would like to go a different way with their defense. Regardless of the reason, it’s leaving IDP managers scrambling.
What does this mean for New York?
As of the writing of this article, the Giants have yet to make a corresponding move to fill the hole that Martinez leaves. Thankfully, thanks to Martinez’s injury early in the season last year, we have a decent idea of what their linebacking corps looks like without him.
For one, people will naturally think that Tae Crowder is the main benefactor from Martinez’s departure. However, I’m not sure I’ll be rushing to overpay for stock in Crowder. Last year, he only racked up 130 combined tackles, even with Martinez missing most of the season. Sure, this is serviceable for an LB2 or LB3, but this is by no means the same production we expected from Martinez.
Since Crowder is the same linebacker from an IDP perspective as last year, who benefits from this move? My argument is for rookie Micah McFadden. McFadden had one heck of a preseason, racking up 12 combined tackles on 101 defensive snaps played. A tackle rate of around 12% isn’t anything to sneeze at, and the Giants clearly have an optimistic outlook on what he can produce.
In summary, you shouldn’t draft Tae Crowder any higher he was already being drafted. We’ve already seen what he can do without Martinez, which isn’t spectacular. I think the real benefactors are McFadden and Xavier McKinney — there are a lot of tackles available for them to rack up. McKinney was already being drafted fairly high, but give him a boost. McFadden also now becomes relevant out of nowhere.
What does this mean for Blake Martinez?
In watching Martinez in the preseason, I believe it is clear that he still has something left in the tank. For those of you who drafted him in your drafts, I wouldn’t go immediately dropping him just yet. A few teams out there can use a tackling monster like Martinez. I won’t be surprised if, by the time you are reading this, Martinez has a new home, making him relevant again.
There is a lot of uncertainty in those of you who have yet to draft. Is there a chance that Martinez finds a new home and recaptures his 150 tackles a year? Sure! Would I rather take my chances on someone who isn’t coming off of an ACL injury and wasn’t just waived by his former team? Absolutely.
I think drafting Martinez as your LB3 and hoping for the best is fair at this point. This won’t hamstring your entire draft, and there is enough upside in Martinez that it’s worth it to grab him. If someone wants to overpay for him, let them. I, for one, will hope he drops far enough to make the cost worth the risk.
Thank you for reading my article on the impact of Blake Martinez’s release from the Giants! You can find my IDP Guys author page here if you want to read my other content. You can find me on Twitter at @mrecord21. Be sure to follow @IDPGuys to keep up with all the latest fantasy news!
