Signing DeAndre Baker makes sense for Kansas City Chiefs

Signing DeAndre Baker would provide the Kansas City Chiefs another opportunity to help a young player succeed while also bolstering their roster.

The start to DeAndre Baker‘s career is a sad one. Baker was a first-round draft pick of the New York Giants in 2019. He was a very talented prospect coming out of Georgia, so much so that the Giants traded a second and two fifth-round draft picks to get him. Roughly a year later, Baker found himself in a bad situation that looked like it would end his career before it really even began.

Just last May, news broke that Baker had been arrested on charges of armed robbery after turning himself in to authorities. He and Seahawks’ cornerback Quinton Dunbar, both had warrants out for their arrest before turning themselves in. Details of exactly what happened from the supposed armed robbery still aren’t clear, but the charges against Dunbar were dropped shortly after while Baker’s charges remained. It wasn’t until just this week that the charges against Baker were dropped as well.

Unfortunately for the young cornerback, the damage to the start of his career had already been done. The Giants, not electing to stick with Baker through the troubles, waived him this past September. Things weren’t looking good at all for him, at least until this week when his charges were dropped in light of a plot of extortion against him. This obviously calls into question what really happened last May and to what degree Baker was part of any wrongdoing if any at all.

With Baker now being cleared of any legal wrongdoing, hopefully, the NFL will follow suit and remove him from the commissioner’s exempt list. This would give him the chance to restart his career and hopefully write a unique redemption story. This is where the Kansas City Chiefs could enter the picture. The Chiefs did have an interest in Baker before the 2019 draft, so this naturally may create a good landing spot for him.

The Chiefs look to have a budding young secondary. Guys like Charvarius Ward, Rashad Fenton, and L’Jarius Sneed are all on the front end of their careers and give the team an optimistic look at the future of the position. Adding Baker would only serve to solidify the potential for a talented secondary in the years to come. Having only played in the league for one season, he still has a lot to prove and the sky is the limit.

This isn’t to say that Baker is the all-pro that every team is looking for, but he’s definitely worth taking a flier on, especially if he comes at a bargain deal. It’s hard to know if he could really contribute this season, but what if he could? He could be using these false charges and the release from the team that drafted him as fuel for his fire. As the Chiefs are on track to make another deep postseason run, having a healthy Baker in the mix could prove very beneficial.

Thankfully, there are still enough regular-season games that can help ease him into the rotation. This could then serve as the basis for bringing him back in 2021 and beyond. This would give the Chiefs an opportunity to bring in a first-round player that they were interested in without giving up a first-round draft pick. It also provides Baker with the chance to restart with one of the most solid organizations in the league.

There’s plenty of great leadership both on the field and on the sidelines to give him what he needs to succeed. The knee jerk reaction last spring would seem to paint Baker as a troubled young man, but restarting his career in Kansas City could certainly help to tell the truth or to begin a new chapter in his life.

Maybe this encounter, even with the charges dropped, will help him to keep his nose clean and not allow himself to be put in a bad situation. Hopefully, the rumors are true that the Chiefs are interested and that those rumors turn into a nice addition to the roster.