Budda Baker Sends Message to Cardinals Fans
The Arizona Cardinals will be without their heart and soul for the foreseeable future after safety and team captain Budda Baker was placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.
Baker appeared suddenly appeared on last week's injury report after practicing fully on Wednesday and Thursday. The Cardinals ruled him as questionable before declaring him out ahead of their Week 2 loss vs. New York.
Baker will now miss at least the next four games, though Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon confirmed he didn't tear anything and is expected back at some point.
After Sunday's loss, fellow safety running mate Jalen Thompson said the defense undoubtedly missed his presence:
“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.”
It's unknown when exactly Baker will return, though the safety did share a positive message on his instagram page:
"Everything happens for a reason. I'll be back Thank you God!"
K'Von Wallace replaced Baker on Sunday and is expected to be the man moving forward, though Gannon told reporters on Monday that it will be tough to replace Baker.
"You’re never going to replace a Budda Baker, but we’ve got guys that we feel comfortable getting the job done and playing winning football for us. Everyone has just got to do their job, we’ll be OK," he said before again touching on Baker today:
“We’ll get on the practice field this week and we’ve got some guys that we feel comfortable with in that spot. We’ve all got to kind of pick up our game because no doubt we’ll miss him a little bit, but I feel good about who we’ve got going in.”
The Cardinals are 0-2 and host the Dallas Cowboys this week. Baker will miss meetings against Dallas, San Francisco, Cincinnati and Los Angeles (Rams) before he is eligible to return.
