The Kansas City Chiefs are making yet another addition to their 2020 roster. According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, former New York Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker is expected to sign with the Chiefs on their practice squad.
Baker, a 2019 first round pick, is still just 23 years old. Hopefully, this new chapter of his life and NFL career will lead to more success down the road. He fell into some legal trouble this off-season. After things spiraled out of control off the field, the Giants waived him after just one season.
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Extortion Case
Back in May, an incident occurred at a house party in Florida. DeAndre Baker was charged with four counts of robbery with a firearm. Suddenly, all charges against him were dropped, as the attorney for the alleged victims was charged with extortion.
Here is what Baker’s lawyer had to say, following the charges being dropped. “I’ve been saying this from day one, that this was an extortion scheme and that DeAndre was a victim. This event did not play out as they insinuated. And the case was dismissed.”
Chiefs Plan And Fit
As Garafolo noted, DeAndre Baker is expected to make the jump from the practice squad to the active roster fairly quickly. He will take time to get up to speed both physically and with the team playbook. While this move may not move the needle for the Kansas City Chiefs, this secondary depth chart looks even more stout on paper.
Just in the cornerback room alone, Baker joins the likes of Bashaud Breeland, Charvarius Ward, the returning L’Jarius Sneed and Rashad Fenton. You also have the dynamic abilities of Tyrann Mathieu, Juan Thornhill and Daniel Sorensen at safety. This allows defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to be even more creative, with all these DBs at his disposal.
As we wrote about DeAndre Baker as a possible Chiefs draft prospect in 2019, the main points remain true. His strengths lie in man coverage. His abilities to press at the line of scrimmage are a good asset to have, due to his length and physicality. Even in off man coverage, Baker has admirable instincts and anticipation. He is built and plays similarly to the aforementioned Fenton. In 2019 with the Giants, DeAndre Baker registered 61 tackles and eight passes defensed.
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– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.
