Arizona Cardinals Give Positive Update on Budda Baker Injury

Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker is expected to come back from injured reserve this season, according to head coach Jonathan Gannon.

Arizona Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon addressed reporters today following the 31-28 loss to the New York Giants in Week 2. The loss stung - but even worse was the news of star safety Budda Baker heading to injured reserve with a hamstring injury, ensuring he'll miss at least the next four weeks.

Following the game, Baker's status was unknown. 

"We've just got to evaluate him. He wasn't healthy enough to play today. I think he got nicked on Friday and we'll see as we go through next week here."

Baker practiced with no issue last week before Friday, where he was a sudden addition to the injury report with a questionable tag. 

On Monday, Gannon revealed a bit of good news:

"Yeah he's gonna miss some time, but he'll be back. So [we] put him on IR today but he'll get ready to go here pretty soon and be ready to roll," said Gannon, who said Baker did not tear his hamstring. Baker was told to stay home by the coaching staff ahead of Sunday. 

Baker will miss quite the stretch of games coming up, as the Cardinals are set to play the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams before he's eligible to come back. 

Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson said the team missed Baker plenty during Week 2.

“Missed him a lot. That’s our defensive captain right there. It’s always good having him on the field. As a leader he makes sure we are all set and all good. It was a big loss to not have [S Budda Baker] Budda out there but it’s next man up. We have to keep going and keep going hard," said Thompson following the game.

Baker's replacement in K'Von Wallace has impressed during the first two games of the season, though he was hard on himself following the loss. 

“The switch flipped because of all of the mistakes that we kept making. We continuously shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties and getting off the field as the defense. My play wasn’t the standard, and I can only look at myself and critique what I could’ve done better for the team," Wallace said. 

"I felt like there were maybe one or two plays I left out there that could’ve been the change of the game. That’s the way of the game though.”

The Cardinals signed safety Qwuantrezz Knight (KWAN-trez) to the active roster from San Francisco’s practice squad today and also added safety Joey Blount to the practice squad.