The Green Bay Packers went into April’s draft with three distinct needs. Their only receivers were rookies in 2002. Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis‘ departures left them without any form of tight end. And with Adrian Amos expected to walk, a gaping hole formed at safety. Darnell Savage was supposed to be the long-term solution when the Packers selected him in the first round of the 2019 draft. He has shown flashes but has largely underwhelmed. Last season, Green Bay benched him midway through the season for Rudy Ford before reclaiming his role down the stretch. Savage will play this upcoming season on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract, which Brian Gutekunst picked up before 2022. But with no long-term commitment of any kind to the Maryland product, it was clear from the start of this offseason that Green Bay will be prowling the streets for his successor.
Of course, the Packers ended up prioritizing their offensive skill needs. After adding powerful edge Lukas Van Ness on Day 1, they loaded up on weapons. Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft joined the tight end room on Day 2. Jayden Reed came on board with the 50th pick, and wideouts Dontayvion Wicks and Grant DuBose made up a pair of late-round stabs on Day 3. Musgrave and Reed are already receiving starting reps in a pass-catching group that is entirely bereft of veterans. In loading up on weapons for Jordan Love, Gutekunst sacrificed a potential upgrade at safety. Seventh-round pick Anthony Johnson Jr. was the only draftee to join the safety room that consists of Savage, Ford, and some of Rich Bisaccia’s special teams weapons.
Make no mistake, Johnson is a legit player who could challenge for reps early in his career, given the circumstances. But I’d imagine what happens at that position is highly dependent on what type of team the Packers are going to be this year. The floor is pretty low. Love could be terrible, and if Joe Barry’s defense plays like it has been, there’s nobody to save them. Recent comments from Matt LaFleur about managing expectations have fed into that fear. Conversely, the ceiling is reasonably high, particularly in a weak NFC North. If the defense plays like they’re made up entirely of first-round picks (they are), and Love stretches his performance in Philadelphia over an entire campaign, they will probably win their division and return to the postseason. This begs the question, could the elite safety on the market be an option to fill their biggest remaining hole?
After the Arizona Cardinals drafted him in 2017, Budda Baker has become one of the best safeties in the league. He’s started at least 15 games in each of the last four seasons, and brings top tier leadership, range, and ball hawking to a defense. Baker has only elevated his game since signing a four-year, $59 million extension in 2020. However, the Cardinals have quickly gone from up-and-coming contender to a franchise ready to start all the way over, and he’s demanded a change of scenery with two years left on his deal.
According to Over The Cap, the Packers have over $16 million in cap space at this juncture. Adding Baker would mean another $13 million on the books for this season, vanquishing the flexibility that’s been created largely by kicking the can down the road on other contracts. It would be an all-in type of move for a franchise in the early stages of recovery after they went all-in the past two seasons with Aaron Rodgers.
Such a move probably doesn’t align with the spirit of the reload, particularly with where they’re expected to go this fall. This is probably why, despite arguably needing him the most, the Packers haven’t been brought up in any DeAndre Hopkins rumors these last few months. However, it’s worth noting that Baker’s contract is not nearly the complete albatross that Hopkins’ is.
Obviously, it’s hard to speculate on any potential acquisition of another team’s star without mentioning that it’s something the Packers rarely do. They like to hold on to their picks and save their money for homegrown extension candidates. Baker would be lethal in a secondary with Jaire Alexander, Rasul Douglas, and Eric Stokes. However, that would mean another towering extension awarded to the defense, alongside Alexander’s, Kenny Clark’s, Preston Smith’s, De’Vondre Campbell’s, and the one Rashan Gary is about to receive.
From a fit standpoint alone, Baker makes as much sense as any star who’s been on the market in years. Gutekunst put most of his chips towards giving the offense some explosiveness. Plugging the safety hole with a superstar would cap off an impressive offseason. From a timing standpoint, though, it’s hard to justify an aggressive buy with the non-existent floor this young team has. It’s something to keep an eye on as OTAs heat up, but it doesn’t feel quite as likely as a last-minute, one-year deal with Amos at this point.
