Coach Sees Three-Down Potential in Martin

Minnesota Golden Gophers defensive coordinator Joe Rossi weighs in on the Packers' fifth-round pick, linebacker Kamal Martin.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
May 8, 2020 7:38 PM EDT

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Kamal Martin’s knee injury wasn’t good news for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. It might, however, wind up being good news for the Green Bay Packers, who perhaps found a great bargain with the linebacker they drafted in the fifth round.

“I think the Packers are getting, honestly, tremendous value,” Minnesota defensive coordinator Joe Rossi said this week. “I really think that if he hadn’t been injured this year, I can see him being a third-round guy or second-round guy. I think that highly of him. We got a chance to see how he was playing in spring ball and in preseason camp. And then an injury out of the gate, then he was back, and he finished the year injured again. In that middle stretch when he was healthy, he was dominant. I think the Packers have a guy who is going to be highly productive. I think his best football is ahead of him.”

The upside comes from Martin’s path to the draft. At Burnsville (Minn.) High School, Martin played quarterback and safety and was a finalist for Mr. Football Minnesota. He originally committed to play quarterback for Eastern Michigan before getting an offer to play defense for the Golden Gophers.

Meanwhile, Rossi joined the Gophers’ staff as a quality-control coach in 2017 before leading the defensive line in 2018 and becoming defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for 2019. It was Rossi who helped make the pivotal decision to turn Martin from pass rusher to inside linebacker for his final season.

“He was just a natural inside in the box,” Rossi said. “Sometimes, you have big, physical, athletic guys and you put them in there and they struggle to react. That was not him. He was a natural in there and just really took off. I think that him playing inside at the next level, he’s going to do it very well.”

While quarterback and linebacker are worlds apart in terms of job description, Rossi believes Martin’s quarterback background showed up on defense.

“Linebacker is obviously very different than quarterback, but where they are similar is the quarterback’s a big-picture thinker,” Rossi said. “He’s got to understand concepts, he’s got to learn the whole playbook. When you’re a linebacker, you’re the guy setting the front, you’re the guy making checks. You tie into the run, you tie into the pass. So, there is that element of the whole picture. I think having that responsibility as a quarterback makes it easy for you when you go to linebacker because even though the content’s different, what you’re looking at and studying’s different, but having the ability to diagnose all of that and absorb all of that, I think it shows. The other place I think being a quarterback shows up is ball skills. Sometimes, linebackers aren’t real comfortable breaking on the ball, catching the ball, but I think that’s a strength of Kamal’s.”

Martin will bring size (6-3, 240) and speed (another team’s scout confirmed Packers scout Brandian Ross’ belief that Martin has 4.6 speed in the 40) to Green Bay’s defense. With his ability to rush the passer and cover – he had two interceptions in an early-season game against Purdue – Rossi believes Martin can develop into a coveted three-down linebacker.

“Absolutely,” he said. “One, he’s a good blitzer but then he’s really good in coverage. He can man backs, he can man tight ends. Obviously, those guys at the next level are better than he was playing against on a regular basis but, in the Big Ten, we’re going against NFL-type players week in, week out. If he was matched up on a tight end or running back, I always felt like we had the advantage. I think for sure he can be a three-down player.”

Martin’s secret weapon is his arm length. They measured 34 inches at the Scouting Combine. According to Rossi, he had the second- or third-longest arms on the entire roster. By comparison, his arms were longer than first-round linebackers Isaiah Simmons (33 3/8), Kenneth Murray (32 3/4) and Patrick Queen (31 5/8). That length allows him to take on blockers and disrupt passing angles.

“I feel like he’s a guy that’s going to have a successful NFL career,” Rossi said. “What he brings to the table from his length and his athleticism, he has tremendous special-teams value. His ability to play the run and the pass game, and he’s smart and he’s a good person who works hard. When you combine those attributes, I think you feel really good about his long-term success in the NFL.”