Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker is entering the final year of his contract heading into the 2024 season.
Baker, who signed a four-year, $59 million extension with the Cardinals in 2020, wanted to be compensated fairly last offseason. The six-time Pro Bowl safety requested a trade last April, but Arizona gave Baker a pay raise instead of a new contract.
As he enters the final year of his contract, Baker is focused solely on what he can control entering his eighth NFL season.
“For me, I'm just controlling what I can control,” Baker said on Friday, via AZ Central’s Theo Mackie. “Just controlling having a great season as a team and of course personally but as a team and just winning games and letting everything else take care of itself. So mentally I'm just looking forward to this season and looking forward to playing great football with the guys and winning games. So that's my sole focus.”
Baker, 28, is currently the seventh highest-paid safety with a $14.1 million per year average, per Over The Cap. If the Cardinals and Baker can’t agree on a contract extension, the two-time All-Pro safety will enter free agency in 2025.
Since 2017, Baker's been one of the best playmaking safeties in the league, generating seven interceptions, 34 passes defended, 7.5 sacks, six forced fumbles and 737 tackles.
The 28-year-old earned his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl in 2023 under new head coach and defensive specialist Jonathan Gannon. The Cardinals finished with a 4-13 record, however, things look to be on the horizon in the desert after a solid offseason.
Arizona drafted Marvin Harrison Jr. in the first-round, giving a fully healthy Kyler Murray one of the top wide receiving prospects of the 2024 draft. The Cardinals also added more depth on the defensive side with Sean Murphy-Bunting, along with draft picks Darius Robinson and Max Melton.
Despite entering the final year of his contract, Baker has been a vocal leader at training camp, and his head coach envisions the safety being a key contributor to the team’s success in 2024.
"He's a phenomenal person and he's a phenomenal player," Gannon said this week, via the team website. "I'm glad '3' is with us and he's going to play a big part in what we do this year."