Cardinals Urged to Trade Star Safety

Bleacher Report is all in favor of the Arizona Cardinals trading away Budda Baker.

Dec 31, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker (3) before action against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

ARIZONA -- As we crawl closer to training camp, the Arizona Cardinals have a few decisions to make.

There's not a bigger one than the status of star safety Budda Baker, as he enters the final year of his contract and there's been nothing revealed on his future status moving forward.

Last year, Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort beat the buzzer and re-worked Baker's contract to please the safety amid his trade request.

Could we see that again - in different fashion?

While Cardinals fans hope an extension is on the table, Bleacher Report believes Arizona needs to make Baker available for trade:

"There would admittedly be some laughable irony in the Cardinals trading Budda Baker at this point. He sat out OTAs last season as he sought a contract that would make him the highest-paid safety in the league or a trade," wrote Alex Ballentine.

"Instead, he settled for a $300,000 signing bonus and up to $2.4 million in added incentives into his contract. Now Baker appears to be happy in the desert. He's taking on a leadership role for a young Cardinals defense with defensive-minded head coach Jonathan Gannon."

After highlighting how the Cardinals are not simply a good safety away from being great, Ballentine finishes with:

"Trading Baker would create another hole on the defense, but if a team is willing to give up a valuable pick, then it would give the Cards more ammo to address more pressing needs.

"That's critical for a team with so many holes that could be facing even more pressure to win in 2025 when Baker's contract expires."

Frankly put, if the Cardinals wanted to trade Baker, they would have likely done so last offseason when his value was higher.

We actually placed a Baker extension on our list of things the Cardinals can still get done ahead of training camp, which you can read more about here.

As for Baker, he said he's not worrying about the contract this summer.

"My mindset is the same each and every year," Baker told reporters earlier this offseason.

"A lot of people think about the money. Some players might think, 'Oh, contract year, I got to do extra. I got to do this.' I treat every single year like a contract year.

"For me, I love this game. I play it at a high level each and every week because of the work I put in each and every week. And, for me, I'm an honest believer in just controlling what I can control and do my job. At the end of the day, everything else will take care of itself."

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