Cardinals safety Budda Baker did not take part in offseason work with the team last year because he was hoping to land a long-term contract extension that never came.
Baker wound up reporting to training camp after agreeing to additional bonuses and incentives in his existing deal, but the lack of an extension means that he’s now in the final year of his pact. That has not caused him to repeat last year’s approach to the offseason program and he said on Monday that it is not going to cause him to approach the season any differently because he brings the same urgency to his play regardless of his contract status.
“A lot of people think about the money. Some players might think, ‘Contract year, I gotta do extra.’ I treat every single year like a contract year,” Baker said, via Tyler Drake of ArizonaSports.com. “For me, I love this game. I play it at a high level each and every week because of the work I put in each and every week. For me, I’m an honest believer in controlling what I can control and do my job. At the end of the day, everything else will take care of itself.”
The Cardinals have brought in a lot of new pieces since General Manager Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon joined the team last year and that process will continue until the team finds a winning formula. The coming months will likely determine whether Baker will remain part of that equation in 2025.