Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort mum on Budda Baker’s expiring contract
Jul 29, 2024, 2:13 PM | Updated: 3:13 pm
No news has been good news for the Arizona Cardinals. As other teams deal with contract extension-seekers holding out of training camp, it’s been all quiet in Glendale.
Even though two Cardinals leaders on each side of the ball are entering contract years.
Safety Budda Baker and running back James Conner not only showed up to camp but have avoided the headlines with their deals ending after 2024.
General manager Monti Ossenfort sidestepped questions on Sunday about whether Baker — Arizona’s heart and soul — and the front office have discussed an extension.
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Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke asked the general manager Monday if there was urgency to get it done or if the Cardinals would let Baker’s 2024 season play out first.
“We’ve had a lot of discussions with Budda here over the last couple years,” Ossenfort said. “And so I think we’re happy that we have Budda and we’ll see kinda what that means moving forward. But we love all the guys we got on the team right now — we’ll see how that shakes out with the 53 — but Budda certainly represents everything we want this team to be about. We’re excited to see how this season goes right now.”
The GM reiterated that all contract talks are “case-by-case.”
Baker’s base contract will pay out $14.2 million but notably has a dead cap value of $3.9 million in a trade or release.
While he made his sixth Pro Bowl last year, it was a down season relative to his usual statistical production. Appearing in only 12 games due to a hamstring injury, Baker piled up 87 tackles but didn’t record a sack, interception or fumble.
At 28 years old and with quite a few miles at a non-premium position in terms of pay, how his situation plays out remains a point of curiosity. But Baker has showed up to work like he was locked down for the longterm.
He told Burns & Gambo that he understands the business.
“(My agent) kind of just leaves me out of it like I ask him to,” Baker said later Monday. “For me personally, it’s just to live in the moment and to just work hard and if the things come they come. And if they don’t I’m going to continue to be who I am. … You can’t control that type of stuff. It’s all about controlling what you can control.
“I have a very good faith in God. I’m a Christian growing up. For me personally, whatever God has in store for me, that’s what my destiny is. It’s that easy. Take it one day at a time. I have a tattoo on my arm that says, ‘Each day is not promised.'”
He’s walked the walk. Baker was shouted out by his teammates after stepping up to give the Cardinals an impassioned speech on the first day of training camp last week.
“Budda’s attitude has been fantastic ever since we got here,” the GM said. “The way that he leads, the way that he prepares, the way he goes about his business and works, it really showed in the first night of our first meeting when he addressed the entire team and put his sentiments out there. It was just great. It was a great message for the team, great message for everybody in the room.
“… When the players take control of the team with how we want to do it, that’s when we start rolling. We’re really excited about the leadership we have from Budda, from James Conner, from different players that are on the team right now.”
