GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Blake Martinez usually can be found curled up in his locker after practice with his iPad in his lap.

From afar, he looks like your typical 23-year-old with a device in hand.

But the Green Bay Packers' second-year linebacker isn't checking out his favorite YouTuber or getting in a quick game of Candy Crush or FaceTiming a friend before meetings. He's almost always watching video from the practice that just concluded -- an extra step he takes before he goes into the meeting room with inside linebackers coach Scott McCurley.

"I want to get a first look at it," Martinez said. "I'll rewatch practice before we watch it [in the meeting] and then I'd watch it again after I got home. I think for me, I go off photographic memory so when I'm watching it, I see a given play so many times and then when I get into a game I'm like, I've seen this before."

The fourth-round pick from Stanford last year says he believes it has helped him take the jump he has made from his rookie season, when he was more of a situational player. This season, Martinez not only has found a home in defensive coordinator Dom Capers' new "nitro" package, where he's the lone inside linebacker next to a safety, but he's also staying on the field in other packages. As a result, Martinez leads the Packers with 37 tackles (including 26 solo stops) and has one sack.

He already has played 236 defensive snaps. Last year, he played only 419 all regular season, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Martinez played in 13 games as a rookie, missing three because of a knee injury.

"Blake is just really a true professional," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "Works at it very hard. It's no surprise. I think you definitely could see the progress he made last year just battling through some injuries, but he's been definitely ascending since he was given the opportunity last year. I think he's playing a lot faster. He's making impact plays and really was way ahead of the game as far as the mental preparation, the ability to communicate."

In training camp, it was unclear what kind of role Martinez might have this season. There were times when it looked as if it might be a minimal one. But the more Capers used the "nitro" package, which is designed to get more speed on the field, the more it looked tailor-made for Martinez's athletic ability.

"I never really had complete feel; I think I was kind of in the same boat as you," Martinez said. "I would just show up every day and show them I can get the job done when I am out there and when it came time to say who the starters were, whenever it was -- whether it was preseason game No. 3 when the starters play a lot -- kind of at that point I was like, 'OK, they have confidence in me to get this done.' Then we started the season and used a lot of the 'nitro' package and you're like, 'Who's going to be that guy?' The next thing you know, they say, 'Hey Blake you're in.' "

Martinez might not watch any more film than the next guy, it's just that he has found a post-practice study pattern that works for him. He actually started doing this at Stanford as a way of refreshing what just happened on the practice field.

But by his estimation, that's only about 30 percent of his film study. The rest is on opponents or players he'd like to emulate.

"Mentally he's on top of everything," McCurley said. "It's been impressive to see him start the season here. I think he's still growing in a lot of ways. Every day there's things that come up that you can tell his youth and his growth are still a lot of potential yet to come."