The New York Giants traded up into the first round to select Georgia cornerback Deandre Baker in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Coming out Athens, Baker was viewed as one of the best lockdown defensive backs in the draft class after having a sensational 2018 season in which he won the Jim Thorpe Award, given to college football’s top defensive back.
But Baker struggled to adjust to the NFL game during his rookie season, with opposing quarterbacks often picking on the Miami native.
For the first half of the NFL season, it was not looking good for Baker or the Giants. He was getting beat regularly, giving up a ton of room to receivers to make easy catches and was being targeted by opposing quarterbacks.
There were even reports of Baker falling asleep during Giants’ team or position group meetings.
It should be noted, however, that Baker eventually turned it on in the later part of the season for the Giants.
But despite his early rookie season struggles, his former Georgia coach, Kirby Smart, still believes Baker can become one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks.
“I think that’s a part to growing up,” Smart told the New York Post. “I’ll say this, there’s not many rookie corners that aren’t going to struggle in that league. It’s not like they’re giving out Rookie of the Year to corners real often. Because when you’re doing your job, you don’t get a lot of credit, and when you’re not doing your job, you’re a sieve. So it’s usually going to go to a pass rusher or a linebacker who can put great statistics up there.
“When you’re on the back end you’re the last line of defense so that’s what everybody sees. Those three corners who were picked [in the first round this year], they’ll probably be the same way. They’re going to be under the limelight a lot more. I know Deandre will get better and he’ll keep working at it.”
Being a first round draft pick yields a lot of pressure, and one guy who knows a lot about that pressure is Giants running back Saquon Barkley.
Barkley talked with the New York Post about Baker and his rookie season.
“When you come in as a first-rounder, everyone sets expectations for you and there are expectations that you set for yourself and the kind of player you want to be,’’ Barkley told The Post on Friday. “Bake comes in every single day and works to get better and better. Obviously, he probably didn’t start the season how he would like to start his career. But these last couple weeks, he’s been playing lights out. He was a big reason why we got our first win in a while last week.’’