Budda Baker Trade Makes Sense for Eagles; Can Howie Roseman Make it Work?
The allure of Budda Baker is strong.
He is the kind of player coach Nick Sirianni would love to have because he exemplifies the "Dawg" mentality the Philadelphia Eagles head coach preaches, and his players spout with regularity.
He is available, too, after beginning the weekend requesting a trade from the Arizona Cardinals.
The Cardinals are a mess - receiver DeAndre Hopkins wants out. Edge rusher J.J. Watt retired. Quarterback Kyler Murray won’t be ready to play for probably a month or so as he rehabs from a torn ACL.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg that figures to sink the Cardinals to the bottom of the NFC under new head coach, Jonathan Gannon, the former Eagles defensive coordinator.
Baker, who is just 27, wants no part of a rebuild. He wants a team who can help him earn a Super Bowl ring.
The Eagles are in that mix.
Would the Eagles like to add him to their mix, though?
His résumé is certainly off the charts.
He’s been to five Pro Bowls in his six seasons in the league and is a two-time first-team Associated Press All-Pro. His seven interceptions have come in the past three years, though he is more of a force attacking the line of scrimmage and not as much as a deep cover safety.
Still, he can do that as well if needed.
General manager Howie Roseman likes to utilize his draft picks in the best way possible and he has two to play with when the draft begins on April 27 - Nos. 10 and 30.
He could certainly find a way to make the compensation satisfactory enough to get the Cardinals to bite.
The question is the money.
Even though the Eagles are about $20M under the salary cap, they need to prepare to make room for the extension of franchise quarterback Jalen Hurts. More than likely that deal won’t come until after June 1.
Still, it’s coming.
Roseman already addressed the safety position during the offseason, replacing Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (Detroit Lions) and Marcus Epps (Las Vegas Raiders) with former Pittsburgh Steelers Terrell Edmunds and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Justin Evans.
The GM did so on the cheap, though, with both players arriving on one-year deals.
Philadelphia also wants undrafted free agent Reed Blankenship to be one of the safeties on the back end of their defense after Blankenship played well enough as a rookie to want to see more.
Roseman made the compensation and contract work last year when he delivered A.J. Brown to Philly.
Unlike Brown, who was entering the final year of his rookie contract, Baker is due $13.09 million this year and $14.2M in 2024 after signing a four-year contract extension on Aug. 27, 2020, worth $59M.
Now, he wants to be the highest-paid safety in the league.
That distinction goes to the Los Angeles’ Chargers’ Derwin James, who, last August, signed a four-year contract worth $76M with $38.6M guaranteed and a $19M AAV. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Minkah Fitzpatrick is the league’s second-highest-paid safety at $18.2M per year.
Safety isn’t a position the Eagles tend to value very highly, having never drafted one in their history.
They have targeted some during free agency in the past, however.
Roseman signed Malcolm Jenkins in 2014 but parted ways with him after the 2019 season rather than give him another contract at the age of 32.
The Eagles also brought in Rodney McLeod with a three-year contract worth $16.25M in 2016. Neither player was the highest-paid safety in the league, the way Baker hopes to be.
Jenkins and McLeod were key pieces in the Eagles Super Bowl LII championship in 2017.
Can they win one with Edmunds, Evans, and Blankenship?
Maybe.
Their chances increase with Baker and that is a reason Roseman should give up what it takes and, as he usually can do, find a way to make the money work.
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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