The Kansas City Chiefs cut the tires with some depth in the secondary as cornerback Deandre Baker has been released, per ESPN. Baker had been with the Chiefs for the past two seasons, playing in 10 regular season games with two starts and recording 21 combined tackles, one sack and two defending passes.
Baker was originally drafted by the New York Giants with the number 30 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft from Georgia. The Jim Thorpe Award winner recorded 61 combined tackles and eight defending passes in his rookie season, but suffered off-field problems that quickly changed the course of his career.
In May 2020, Baker was charged with armed robbery. While the charges were eventually dropped after his alleged victims’ attorneys were arrested on racketeering charges, Baker was released by the Giants and found himself on the commissioner’s exempt list. The Chiefs then decided to take on a kite on him in November 2020. He’s only 24 years old and probably another NFL team will take a shot at Baker.
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The Chiefs could afford to make a cut on the secondary as they added some pieces to this off-season. Kansas City fielded Trent McDuffie, Joshua Williams and Jaylen Watson, plus they traded with the Houston Texans for the versatile Lonnie Johnson.
The Chiefs had the seventh-worst defense statistically in terms of yards allowed per game last season, but they also allowed only 21.4 points per game, which was the number 8 in the league. This unit is expected to be upgraded in 2022, which will certainly be necessary if the Chiefs are to retain the division title.