Budda Baker made a smart financial decision this week by reporting to the Cardinals’ mandatory minicamp.
But there was no sign of him on the field for the first practice on Tuesday morning, per Donnie Druin of Sports Illustrated, which makes one thing clear: the star safety still wants a contract extension or a trade, and a tense training camp stand-off could be on the horizon.
I do not see #AZCardinals safety Budda Baker here on the field
— Donnie Druin (@DonnieDruin) June 13, 2023
Quarterback Kyler Murray pushed hard for an extension last offseason and got it. Tackle D.J. Humphries and edge rusher Markus Golden nursed “injuries” during camp before GM Steve Keim eventually acquiesced and gave them new deals.
It’s easy to envision Baker taking the same approach, but there is a new sheriff in town running the Cardinals, and it’s hard to know how Monti Ossenfort will react.
The first few months of Ossenfort’s tenure, short of an indefensible self-inflicted tampering penalty, have been almost perfect.
He hit the reset button on a team that lacked the talent to compete in 2023, thereby making 2024 a realistic year of vast improvement.
We already knew the results, but watching Monti Ossenfort work the phones on draft day should make Cardinals fans even more optimistic about a quick return to relevancy. https://t.co/IdE7q0FJY9
— Kyle Odegard (@Kyle_Odegard) June 9, 2023
But a potential showdown with Baker, one of the team’s most popular, talented and hardest-working players, will not be an easy situation to navigate.
It’s understandable why the perennial Pro Bowl safety wants to get paid after playing at such a high level throughout his Cardinals career.
But with two years left on his contract, and with the team projected to be the worst in the NFL in 2023, Ossenfort cannot tack on more years and guaranteed dollars past 2024.
Baker is signed through his age-28 season, but after that comes the physical downslope of a player’s career, and making him the highest-paid safety in 2025 and beyond would threaten to have negative cap ramifications just as Arizona gets bad contracts cleared from the books.
In an ideal world, Ossenfort can continue stringing along Baker and his representation, eventually moving the conversation to next offseason. If Baker stays healthy and plays well in 2023, and if Arizona shows that it can make the leap back to competitiveness, then it would be time to pay him top-of-the-market money.
And if his game drops off or Baker starts accumulating injuries, the Cardinals will have a bevy of options at their disposal.
But judging by his absence from the minicamp practice, Baker is not going to agree to that.
At end of last season, Kelvin Beachum acknowledged Cardinals had “hold-ins,” presumably involving D.J. Humphries and Markus Golden. So, with first practice of mandatory minicamp at 9:35 am local time, will Budda Baker be one? FYI, he does have a registered agent.
— Howard Balzer (@HBalzer721) June 13, 2023
At this point, if there is no contract amendment over the next several weeks, a hold-in by Baker at the start of training camp should be expected.
He has a base salary of $13.1 million this year, and Baker isn’t going to rack up fines or forfeit any of that by staying away from the team, but he can feign injury to stay off the field and project his discontent with the situation.
If that happens, how do the Cardinals react?
Let Baker sit, taking away from the generally positive vibes that have grown at the start of the Ossenfort-Jonathan Gannon tenure?
Pay him, which could potentially handicap the future and send the message that stars can play hardball and win if they protest enough?
Trade him at the end of camp, like the Saints did with Chauncey Gardner-Johnson a year ago?
The answer might be an Austin Ekeler-type compromise. The Chargers added in $1.75 million of incentives to the star running back’s contract to appease his unhappiness.
