Budda Baker
Arizona CardinalsOVERPAIDModel Score
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
Season Stats · 16 games
Draft & College
He went earlier than consensus.
Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.
Comps
STM Take
Seven Pro Bowls plus 2017 1st-team All-Pro plus nine years at one team puts Baker in the rare Hall-of-Fame trajectory S class. The career STTM range slowly declining from tier 3 (#19) in 2021 to tier 6 (#46) in 2025 confirms the structural late-career decline. The Washington Pac-12 36th overall draft pedigree plus nine years of Cardinals elite production give him real career foundation. The 2026 question is whether Baker extends through age 31 or whether the structural late-career closure finally takes hold.
Baker came out of Washington as the Arizona Cardinals' 2nd-round pick (36th overall) in 2017. He has made seven Pro Bowls (2017, 2019-2024) plus earned 2017 1st-team All-Pro recognition. He has been a one-team player for nine NFL seasons. His STTM career runs tier 3 (#19) in 2021, tier 4 (#31) in 2022, tier 6 (#41) in 2023, tier 7 (#51) in 2024, and tier 6 (#46) in 2025.
Strengths
- Seven Pro Bowls (2017, 2019-2024) plus 2017 1st-team All-Pro plus nine years at one team establishes Hall-of-Fame trajectory S résumé.
- Washington Pac-12 36th overall draft pedigree plus nine years of Cardinals elite production gives him real career foundation.
Concerns
- Five-year decline from tier 3 (#19) in 2021 to tier 6 (#46) in 2025 confirms the structural late-career decline is real.
- Age 31 plus nine years of S wear puts the late-career structural closure question on every 2026 projection.
What to watch: Whether Baker extends through age 31 in 2026 plus holds tier 5 or better, the threshold for closing the elite Hall-of-Fame S career case.