Blake Martinez Reworks Contract to Remain with New York Giants for 2022 Season

Blake Martinez is ready for another Giant(s) season…

The 28-year-old Mexican American professional football player, a starting middle linebacker, will return to the New York Giants for the 2022 season after agreeing to a reworked contract, according to ESPN.

Blake MartinezMartinez’s deal is similar to that of wide receiver Sterling Shepard, who also took a significant pay cut to return earlier this week.

The moves were necessary as the Giants try to get financially healthy ahead of the start of the new league year Wednesday.

New York began this offseason more than $11 million over the cap. The Giants have since shed close to $25 million after cutting tight ends Kyle Rudolph and Kaden Smith, running back Devontae Booker and punter Riley Dixon.

Martinez was set to make $8.525 million on the final year of his contract after tearing the ACL in his left knee last season. He would have counted $14.025 million against the salary cap. The Giants are expected to save almost $6 million by restructuring his contract.

Martinez wanted to remain in New York despite a new regime and a more uncertain future, and his restructured deal was the solution after conversations between the two sides throughout the week.

He had signed a three-year deal for $30 million in the 2020 offseason. The contract was restructured for cap purposes last season to move $3.5 million of dead money into this year. That made the contract in its previous form difficult for the Giants to carry. But that all came under the previous regime, with Patrick Graham as the defensive coordinator. Martinez and Graham had a good relationship, having worked together previously in Green Bay.

Martinez’s first season with the Giants was perhaps the best of his career. He had 140 tackles, 3 sacks, 5 passes defended, an interception and 2 forced fumbles. It was his fourth straight season with 130 or more tackles.

Martinez has played six seasons with the Giants and Green Bay Packers. He has started 76 of 80 career games.

Romo to Remain on Cowboys’ Active Roster While Recovering from Back Injury

Tony Romo is staying active

The Dallas Cowboys will keep the 36-year-old Mexican American quarterback on their active roster, according to a source, in hopes that he can return sooner rather than later from a compression fracture in his back.

Tony Romo

If the Cowboys put Romo on injured reserve, he would miss at least the first eight weeks of the season, per league rules.

Rookie Dak Prescott will start in Romo’s absence, beginning with the season opener against the New York Giants.

On Sunday, the Cowboys announced the signing of veteran Mark Sanchez to be Prescott’s backup. The Cowboys made room for Sanchez on the roster by waiving Jameill Showers instead of placing Romo on injured reserve.

After Romo was hurt on August 25 against the Seattle Seahawks, sources said he would need 6-10 weeks to recover. If he returns at the early end of the timeline, he would play October 9 against the Cincinnati Bengals or October 16 against the Green Bay Packers.

The Cowboys have their bye week on October 23.

If he needs the full timeline, he would return November 6 against the Cleveland Browns. If the Cowboys had placed him on injured reserve, the first game he would be able to play would be against the Browns, but first he has to go to court to win his injury claim with the Personal Injury Lawyer Philadelphia Pennsylvania.

Romo suffered a compression fracture of his L1 vertebra when he was driven into the turf by Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril during a preseason game. Romo was going into a slide when the hit occurred. He wanted to re-enter the game but the coaches held him out, and an MRI the next day revealed the fracture.

He is scheduled to be in a back brace for another week.

After the preseason finale against the Houston Texans on Thursday, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said the decision on Romo could come down to one game that could make a difference in a playoff spot.

The Cowboys are crossing their fingers that Romo heals quickly.

Aguayo Drafted in the Second Round of the NFL Draft

Roberto Aguayo is headed to the National Football League

The 21-year-old Latino kicker, who played for Florida State, was picked in the second round of the NFL draft.

Roberto Aguayo

Aguayo, the 59th pick overall, was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, becoming the highest-drafted kicker since Mike Nugent in 2005.

The NFL’s lengthened extra point has put new emphasis on the play, now effectively a 33-yard attempt. Aguayo was perfect on his 198 PATs in college. More pertinent, the 2013 Lou Groza Award winner was 69-for-78 (88.5%) on field-goal tries and didn’t miss on any of his 49 attempts inside 40 yards.

Aguayo, quarterback Jameis Winston‘s teammate at FSU, expressed a desire to play for the Bucs and seems likely to hold the job for years to come.

But Aguayo wasn’t the only Latino footballer picked during this year’s NFL draft…

Blake Martinez is headed to the Green Bay Packers

The Packers selected the Latino inside from Stanford with the 131st pick, which arrived late in the fourth round, and contained a bit of a premonition from his mother, Carrisa Martinez.

“The funny part of it was, (my mom) was always telling me throughout the process, she was like, ‘I believe you’re going to end up at the Packers,'” Martinez said on a conference call. “And obviously it was just a lucky guess type of thing, but it’s just funny. My mom said right after, ‘Moms are always right.’ And I’ll take it.”

When his moment arrived, Martinez donned a green Packers hat and matching gray T-shirt, and immediately posted a family photo on social media. His father, Marc, had bought the gear in a pre-draft shopping spree that accumulated gear from all 32 teams — just in case.

Martinez, who stands 6 feet 1 1/2 inches and weighs 240 pounds, earned All-American honors in 2015 and was also named first-team all-Pac-12.

He recorded a team-high 141 tackles last season, and his 10.1 tackles per game led the conference.

The Packers, according to director of football operations Eliot Wolf, were enamored of Martinez’s all-around game. He flashed the ability to blitz, evidenced by 13 1/2 tackles for loss and 6 1/2 sacks over the last two years. He expressed confidence in his ability to cover, and Martinez said he served as the main coverage linebacker in nickel and dime packages last season. His 40-yard dash time of 4.67 seconds is far from blazing, but Wolf said the Packers have no qualms about his mobility or range.

“I felt like this last year I improved tremendously on that,” Martinez said. “I feel 100% confident to go out there and cover whoever I need to cover.”

Oklahoma’s Zack Sanchez was picked in Round 5 by the Carolina Panthers.

The 21-year-old Latino cornerback, picked 141st overall, is a ball-hawk who intercepted 13 passes over the past two seasons. His seven picks in 2015 tied for fifth nationally. Sanchez was not afraid to gamble, and sometimes paid for his mistakes. During his career at Oklahoma, he also recorded 134 tackles and three touchdowns.

“He’s instinctive. I think when you get into the fourth or fifth rounds, and find a cornerback with some instincts, this is a great pick,” said NFL Network’s Mike Mayock.

Thomas Duarte is switching coasts…

The 21-year-old half-Mexican American receiver, who played for UCLA, was picked in the seventh round by the Miami Dolphins.

The 231st pick overall, the 6-foot-2, 231-pound Duarte was drafted as a tight end.

Duarte turned pro with a season of eligibility remaining. He ranked second on the Bruins last season with 53 receptions for 872 yards and a team-best 10 touchdown receptions.

Garcia Teams Up for Television Projects for Fox and NBC

Greg Garcia is doubling down…

The 42-year-old Latino television producer has teamed up with two more writers who worked on his most recent series, CBSThe Millers  Austen Earl and Chadd Gindin — for new half-hour projects, Letters to Beyonce and The Pack, that have landed at NBC and Fox.

Greg Garcia

They join two comedy projects with The Millers writers Stephnie Weir and Bobby Bowman, which Garcia recently set up at CBS.

All four shows hail from CBS Television Studios, where Garcia’s company Amigos de Garcia Productions is based, with Garcia executive producing.

NBC’s Letters To Beyonce, written/executive produced by Earl, centers on an overweight, middle-aged schoolteacher who has lost pretty much everything and decides to reclaim her life by drawing inspiration from an unlikely hero.

Fox’s The Pack, written/executive produced by Gindin, centers on a millennial who escapes his sports-obsessed small town in Wisconsin to achieve his big-city dreams — only to end up becoming a regular at a Green Bay Packers bar in Manhattan where he’ll learn that who you’re rooting for is not nearly as important as who you’re rooting with.