Arizona Cardinals Urged to Trade All-Pro Defender

The Arizona Cardinals showed some positive signs in the first season under their new regime of general manager Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon. The team was competitive despite embarking on a rebuild.

In the eight games that Kyler Murray started, they went 3-5. In the other nine games, the Arizona Cardinals went 1-8. Having Murray in the fold healthy for the entire season will certainly help.

Alas, the brain trust knows there is still plenty of work left to do. This team isn’t likely contending for a playoff spot in 2024, which means more moves with an eye toward the future could be made.

One of those moves could be trading All-Pro safety Budda Baker. Over at Bleacher Report, Alex Ballentine has urged the Arizona Cardinals to consider trading their star defender to continue adding assets for their rebuild.

“Trading Baker would create another hole on the defense, but if a team is willing to give up a valuable pick, then it would give the Cards more ammo to address more pressing needs.

That’s critical for a team with so many holes that could be facing even more pressure to win in 2025 when Baker’s contract expires,” wrote Ballentine.

There was a lot of smoke about Baker being traded last offseason. He was seeking a new contract that would make him the highest-paid safety in the NFL.

That never came to fruition, as he settled for a $300,000 signing bonus and $2.4 million in incentives added to his deal. He and the Arizona Cardinals are seemingly in a much better place now and Baker looks to be happy.

He is a key contributor defensively, someone Gannon relies upon heavily to get the defense in order. Alas, as Ballentine noted, a premium draft pick being offered could be enough for the Arizona Cardinals to pull the trigger on a deal.

Baker just entered his prime as he turned only 28 in January. He has plenty of great football left in the tank, which he showed in 2023 by making his fifth straight Pro Bowl team.

Trading someone of that caliber would be a tough pill for the franchise to swallow. But given where they are in their rebuild, an argument could be made that they would be better off acquiring another asset for the future with his contract nearing an end.

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