Former NFL LB Blake Martinez Has Panthers Workout After Pokémon Card-Selling Scandal

Eleven months after retiring from the NFL to focus all of his energy on selling Pokémon cards, linebacker Blake Martinez wants to return to football.

Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, Martinez had a workout with the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday.

Justin Terranova of the New York Post noted Martinez's comeback attempt comes after his second career as a trader and seller of Pokémon cards turned into a scandal that resulted in him being banned from WhatNot.

WhatNot is a social marketplace that is a hotspot for buyers and sellers of Pokémon cards. Martinez, who joined the Las Vegas Raiders midway through last season, announced his retirement on Nov. 10, 2022.

The decision to walk away from football came less than two weeks after Martinez sold a 1998 Pokémon Japanese CoroCoro Rare Holofoil Illustrator Pikachu card at auction for $672,000.

In March, Megan Sauer of CNBC noted Martinez's company, Blake's Breaks, made more than $6.5 million in revenue in just eight months by selling various Pokémon cards.

However, in August, WhatNot issued a statement announcing that Blake's Breaks had been "permanently" removed as a seller from the platform and "all buyers impacted by the infractions" received refunds.

WhatNot didn't specify the exact nature of the violations, but multiple online outlets made allegations that Blake's Breaks was scamming buyers by doing things like swapping out higher-level packs for lower-level packs or never shipping out items.

Martinez was a fourth-round pick by the Green Bay Packers in the 2016 NFL draft. He spent the first four years of his career with the Packers before signing a three-year, $30 million deal with the New York Giants as a free agent in March 2020.

After being released by the Giants in September 2022, Martinez joined the Raiders one month later on their practice squad. He appeared in four games with Las Vegas before announcing his retirement.

In 84 career games, Martinez recorded 706 combined tackles and 13 sacks.