Raiders sign linebacker Blake Martinez

This is the 3rd time he has played for Patrick Graham

The Las Vegas Raiders made a move that has made sense for weeks by signing veteran linebacker Blake Martinez, according to NFL Insider Jordan Schultz.

Martinez visited Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. This pairing looked like a natural fit since Martinez was cut by the New York Giants in late August. Martinez reunites with Raiders’ defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and will play for him for the third different time. Graham was Martinez’s position coach in 2018 and then he was Martinez’s defensive coordinator the past two seasons with the Giants.

Martinez, 28, is in his seventh NFL season. He has been a tackle machine. The Stanford product led the NFL with 144 tackles in Green Bay in 2017. In 2018, he also had 144 stops. In 2019, he had a career-high 155 tackles and he added 151 stops in 2020. He was injured most of last season and had just 23 tackles.

It may take Martinez a few weeks to get the rust off, but he should be able to work into the playing rotation fairly soon with the Raiders. At this time, it’s unclear if he’ll start on the practice squad or go straight to the active roster.