Report: Rookie LB Martin Out Following Knee Surgery

GREEN BAY, Wis. – It will not be a happy homecoming for rookie linebacker Kamal Martin, after all.

Martin, a Minnesota native who starred at the University of Minnesota, had put himself squarely in the mix to start alongside Christian Kirksey for the season-opening game at the Minnesota Vikings. Instead, as first reported by ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky, Martin had knee surgery.

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Martin had surgery to repair a meniscus on Tuesday. The timeline for his return is six to eight weeks. That would make him a logical candidate to be placed on injured reserve but be designated for return when healthy. For that to happen, though, he must make the initial 53-man roster on Saturday. Under a change to IR rules, three players can be designated for return, up from two last year.

The Packers used a fifth-round pick on Martin, who missed four games as a senior due to a knee injury that required surgery. The injury kept Martin from performing at the Scouting Combine, and the pandemic prevented Martin for working out for teams. So, his agents at Athletes First put together a workout video just before the draft.

“The knee is feeling really good,” Martin said on Aug. 25. “It feels good getting back out there. It’s been since last November since I’ve been able to run around and stuff like that. It’s feeling really good.”

According to Demovsky, the surgery was to Martin's left knee. The injury at Minnesota was to his right knee.

When Martin arrived for training camp at the end of July, he was eight months removed from playing in his final game with the Gophers. Nonetheless, despite the long layoff and lack of offseason practices, he quickly made his presence felt.

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“I think we’re taking just one day at a time here,” Martin said. “We’re working and we’re going to continue to work as a team, as a defense, as an offense. Our job every single day is to get better. If you’re not getting better you’re not helping the team out, that’s a personal thing you have to take upon yourself and make it a common goal to get better personally every single day whether that’s one thing in the film room and one simple thing on the field where you could get better with your hands, or something simple. The biggest thing is to get better at one thing every single day. In regards to the first game, that would be exciting to go back home and play in Minnesota. Yeah, excited for that.”

Inside linebacker was a major question mark for the Packers given the players’ injury history. Kirksey played in only nine of a possible 32 games the last two seasons with Cleveland. Oren Burks, a third-round pick in 2018, suffered significant injuries in his first two training camps to hamper his chances to earn a starting role. He also missed Sunday’s practice with an undisclosed injury. Ty Summers, a seventh-round pick in 2019, suffered torn labrums at TCU. Curtis Bolton, an undrafted free agent last year, suffered a torn ACL last preseason and remains on PUP.

Raven Greene, a backup safety but starting dime linebacker, also has missed the past few days of practice. His first two NFL seasons ended on injured reserve.

“Kamal, it’s just such a weird thing because we haven’t been able to work with him until two weeks ago,” inside linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti said recently. “Kamal gets better and better every day. Kamal’s a guy that really worked at it with all the Zoom stuff that we did. When he came in here, he was mentally really in a good place, especially for a rookie that had never really been around us. I think you guys have heard me say that before, taking it from the air condition. Well, he had to take it from a computer screen to the field and he did a nice job with that.”

With Burks and Bolton sidelined, the injury perhaps opens the door for Summers, who didn’t play a single snap on defense as a rookie but led the team in special-teams tackles.

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