Budda Baker

Budda Baker
refer to caption
Baker in the 2017 NFL preseason.
No. 36 – Arizona Cardinals
Position: Safety
Personal information
Born: (1996-01-10) January 10, 1996
Bellevue, Washington
Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight: 195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
High school: Bellevue
(Bellevue, Washington)
College: Washington
NFL Draft: 2017 / Round: 2 / Pick: 36
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 5, 2018
Total tackles: 122
Sacks: 2.5
Forced fumbles: 2
Pass deflections: 8
Interceptions: 0
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Bishard Baker (born January 10, 1996) is an American football safety for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Washington.

Early years

Baker attended Bellevue High School in Bellevue, Washington. He played safety and running back in football and also ran track.[1] As a senior, he was named the Seattle Times High School Athlete of the Year.[2] Baker was rated as a four-star recruit and was ranked among the top safeties in his class. He originally committed to the University of Oregon to play college football, but flipped to the University of Washington the night before National Signing Day.[3]

College career

As a true freshman at Washington in 2014, Baker started all 14 games, recording 80 tackles, one interception, and one sack.[4] Following his freshman campaign, Baker was named a Freshman All-American by USA Today.[5] As a sophomore in 2015 he started 12 of 13 games and was named All-Pac-12 after recording 49 tackles and two interceptions.[6] Baker was named a pre-season All-American prior to the 2016 season.[7] Following the 2016 season, Baker earned consensus all-American honors as a result of being named a first-team all-American by The Sporting News[8] and the Football Writers Association of America,[9] and a second-team all-American by the American Football Coaches Association[10] and The Associated Press.[11] On January 3, 2017, Baker announced his decision to forego his senior season and enter the 2017 NFL Draft.[12]

Professional career

Baker attended the NFL Combine and completed all of the combine and positional drills. He participated at Washington's Pro Day and only ran positional drills for over 50 NFL team representatives and scouts. The majority of NFL draft experts and analysts projected Baker to be a second round pick.[13] Although he showed fluidity, athleticism, speed, passion, solid ball skills, and performed well in coverage, many teams were concerned over his lack of size and how that would effect his ability to play in the NFL.[14] He was ranked the top nickelback available in the draft by NFL analyst Mike Mayock, was ranked the second best free safety prospect by NFLDraftScout.com, and the fourth best safety in the draft by Sports Illustrated and ESPN.[15][16][17]

Pre-draft measurables
Ht Wt Arm length Hand size 40-yard dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert jump Broad BP
5 ft 10 in
(1.78 m)		 195 lb
(88 kg)		 30 5⁄8 in
(0.78 m)		 9 in
(0.23 m)		 4.45 s 1.56 s 2.59 s 4.08 s 6.76 s 32.5 in
(0.83 m)		 9 ft 7 in
(2.92 m)		 15 reps
All values from NFL Combine[14]

The Arizona Cardinals selected Baker in the second round (36th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.[18] He was the fourth safety selected in 2017 and one of three Washington defensive backs selected, along with Kevin King and Sidney Jones.

On May 25, the Arizona Cardinals signed Baker to a four-year, $6.83 million contract with $3.88 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $3.10 million.[19]

Due to NFL's rules for colleges who follow quarters systems, Baker was unable to attend OTA's or minicamp until he graduated from Washington.[20] He impressed coaches throughout training camp and was named the backup free safety to Tyrann Mathieu to begin the regular season.[21]

On December 19, 2017, Baker was one of four Cardinals named to the 2018 Pro Bowl as a special teamer.[22][23]

Personal life

Baker's mother started calling him Budda as a baby since his mother thought he looked like a Buddha doll.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Bellevue's 'Budda' Baker making a name for himself in two sports". 10 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "Budda Baker: The Seattle Times Male High School Athlete of the Year". 11 June 2014.
  3. ↑ "Budda Baker commits to Washington Huskies".
  4. ↑ "Budda Baker, Sidney Jones just sophomores, but bring valuable experience to Huskies defense".
  5. ↑ "USA TODAY Sports Freshman All-America team".
  6. ↑ "Budda Baker ready to lead Huskies defense".
  7. ↑ "USA TODAY Sports preseason college football All-America teams".
  8. ↑ "Sporting News 2016 college football All-Americans".
  9. ↑ "FWAA > News > 2015 AutoNation All-America Team". www.sportswriters.net.
  10. ↑ "Jackson and Allen Headline 2016 FBS All-America Teams".
  11. ↑ "NCAA.com – The Official Website of NCAA Championships". NCAA.com.
  12. ↑ "Washington Huskies". Washington Huskies.
  13. ↑ "*Budda Baker, DS #2 FS, Washington". nfldraftscout.com. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 "Budda Baker Draft Profile", NFL.com, retrieved March 5, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Chris Burke (April 25, 2017). "2017 NFL Draft Rankings: Top Prospects by Position". si.com. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  16. ↑ Jeff Legwold (April 22, 2017). "Ranking the 2017 Draft's Top 100 Prospects". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  17. ↑ Mike Mayock (April 12, 2017). "Mike Mayock's 2017 NFL Draft position rankings 3.0". NFL.com. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  18. ↑ Wesseling, Chris (April 28, 2017). "Cardinals move up for hard hitting safety Budda Baker". NFL.com.
  19. ↑ "Spotrac.com: Budda Baker contract". Spotrac.com. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  20. ↑ John Weinfuss (July 21, 2017). "Budda Baker enters Cardinals camp with lost time to make up". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Ourlads.com: Arizona Cardinal's depth chart: 08/01/2017". ourlads.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  22. ↑ "A Pro Bowl Quartet For Cardinals". AZCardinals.com. December 19, 2017.
  23. ↑ "NFL announces 2018 Pro Bowl rosters". NFL.com. December 19, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
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