Philadelphia Eagles: The pros and cons of Deandre Baker

Should the Philadelphia Eagles sign Deandre Baker? Beats me.

For the first time in recent memory, the Philadelphia Eagles have a legitimately talented, easily top-10 cornerback.

That’s the good news.

The bad news? Outside of Darius Slay, the Eagles’ cornerback corps is doubt right ugly.

More from Section 215

How ugly? Well, tell just say it doesn’t have an alibi.

According to our friends over at Pro Football Focus, the Eagles are the only team in the NFL with three cornerbacks ranked in the bottom 30 at overall defensive rating – with Nickell Robey-Coleman ranked 94th, Cre’Von LeBlanc ranked 107th, and Avonte Maddox ranked 112th out of a possible 120 cornerbacks.

Gosh, outside of Slay, who ranks a way-too-low 39th overall, the Eagles’ cornerback corps really doesn’t have any alibi of which to speak.

So, needless to say, if pretty much any cornerback becomes available, the Eagles should at least show some interest, right? Even if said player is a scrub, surely they can’t be as bad as what’s already here, right?

Well… we may have a player who can help to test that theory: Deandre Baker.

The 30th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft – which *gasp* was only last year – Baker was one of the most polarizing players in his class. A lights out man press corner on the field, Baker only allowed 10 first downs during his final season at Georgia and only gave up a single touchdown in coverage, all the way back in 2016. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein even comped him to Asante Samuel, a player Philly fans both know very well and admire so much that they’re actively campaigning to land his son when he becomes draft-eligible in 2021.

However, off-the-field is a completely different story.

As Zierlein alluded to in his draft profile and others, like Big Blue View’s Ed Valentine compiled, Baker was knocked pretty heavily for his showing during the interview position of the pre-draft process, with some teams going so far as to remove him from their boards entirely.

Though he was still taken in the first round, a few picks later than his tape would suggest, some wondered just how his game would translate to the pros, with unnamed scouts within the Giants organization calling the then-21-year-old “dumb as dirt” at the Senior Bowl, as per the New York Post’s Steve Serby.

And on the field? Baker did little to silence the doubters.

Over the course of his rookie season with the Giants, Baker appeared in 16 games with 15 starts. He was targeted 88 times over 971 defensive snaps and gave up 850 yards and six touchdowns versus zero interceptions. Per ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, Baker was often out of position during what would go down as his only season in James Bettcher’s defense, and finished out the year with a 48.5 overall defensive rating – better than Maddox’s 41.5, but not by much.

Fun fact: Baker even fell asleep during a meeting, which is certainly a mood.

While Baker could conceivably have turned his misfortunes around over the course of his rookie contract with the Giants – he was under contract through the 2023 season if you count his fifth-year option – he never got the chance, as he was arrested for a pretty wild incident you can read more about here alongside fellow NFL cornerback Quinton Dunbar.

Granted, the charges were eventually dropped – and, in a weird twist of fate, his lawyer was later arrested for an alleged extortion attempt – but the league still holds the rights place Baker on the Commissioner’s exempt list if they’ve found he violated the league’s Personal Conduct Policy.

Translation? Any NFL team, even the Giants, can sign Baker right now.

But should that team be the Philadelphia Eagles?

Again, their cornerbacks are really bad. The Eagles’ best player turns 30 on January first, and eventually, he too is going to get transformed from San Francisco Nnamdi Asomugha to Philadelphia Nnamdi Asomugha. Landing a supremely talented 23-year-old eager to prove his former NFC East team wrong certainly wouldn’t be the worst idea imaginable. That’s how T.O. ended up in Dallas, and that ended up working out pretty well.

Then again, Baker’s (lack of a) work ethic and perceived poor attitude have haunted him since the pre-draft process, and even with his charges dropped, many will still look down on the ex-Bulldog for even putting himself in that position.

Would the Eagles really risk ruining their locker room chemistry in the middle of a season that’s rapidly getting away from them for the off chance that Baker can come in and play meaningful snaps before the end of the season?

Then again, again, after letting Rasul Douglas and Sidney Jones walk in free agency, can the Eagles really afford to let another young, ascending cornerback slip through their fingers only to start elsewhere for the next decade? If Baker ends up on the Cowboys or even in Washington, he could cause Philly receivers fits for years to come, especially when you consider he’s physically a pretty natural fit in Jim Schwartz‘s system.

Ultimately, I have no idea what the Philadelphia Eagles should do in this situation. There is a case to be made that signing Deandre Baker really has no downside and even if he has to spend time on the Commissioner’s exempt list, searching for a second starter next to Darius Slay has to be the priority. Then again, there’s no guarantee that Baker ever becomes a starter in the NFL again, and the Eagles may simply see no point in investing the time to get the 23-year-old integrated into their scheme in the middle of a win-now mode season. Either way, I’m sure the Eagles will make the wrong decision because that’s just how this season has gone thus far.