When a player or employee is accused of the serious crimes that New York Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker is being accused of, there’s always the question of whether there were red flags before the decision was made to bring them aboard.
In Baker’s case, there was. The Giants had an internal “battle” over whether to trade up to select Baker, who ended up being the 30th overall pick and the first cornerback off the board in the 2019 NFL Draft.
“There was a battle in our building on whether we were going to take DeAndre or not,” a source told The New York Post, “because the story was he had to have his a– kicked every day to work hard at Georgia — to even go to practice. We knew that and we still drafted him, and from Day 1 it was like taking a guy in the first round that you had to teach nearly everything to.”
Giants general manager Dave Gettleman broke from the team’s mantra of bringing in high-character players by selecting Baker, who had as rough a rookie season as could be imagined. In fact, some draft reviewers were labeling Baker a “bust.”
Not only was Baker a mess on the field, getting burned regularly, blowing assignments and looking lost, he was disengaged off the field, too, falling asleep at meetings and appearing to be disinterested in his job. That malaise was flowing over into 2020. This week, he skipped the team’s virtual voluntary minicamp.
Now comes the news this week that Florida authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Baker and another NFL player (Seattle DB Quinton Dunbar), charging them with four counts of armed robbery and aggravated assault.
Even though Baker’s lawyer insists his client will be exonerated, Gettleman’s break from protocol has cost the Giants, who traded a second, fourth and fifth round pick to move back into the first round to take Baker.
Baker did not perform exceptionally well at the NFL Combine last February and further damaged his draft stock (apparently not to Gettleman) with lackluster, unimpressive interviews.
His talent was evident on tape, however. He looked like a first round talent and his results, as a press corner at Georgia, were evident. He did not allow touchdown in his final season there.
“You’d take him off his film,” a league source said. “But there were too many red flags. It felt like New York was a bad spot for him, anyway.”
If those charges stick, you can count on Baker not seeing New York for a long time.
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