Giants cornerback Deandre Baker has been accused of armed robbery, and some within the organization are putting out word that there’s been a pattern of behavior problems that started during his rookie season last year.
Baker was a discipline and motivational problem last year as a rookie, Peter King writes in Football Morning in America.
The New York Post, citing an unnamed source privy to the Giants’ thinking in last year’s draft, reports that there was a fight within the Giants’ personnel department about whether Baker had the kind of character the team wanted.
“There was a battle in our building on whether we were going to take DeAndre or not because the story was he had to have his a– kicked every day to work hard at Georgia — to even go to practice. We knew that and we still drafted him, and from Day 1 it was like taking a guy in the first round that you had to teach nearly everything to,” the unnamed source said.
When anonymous sources wait until after a player gets in trouble to put out word that they didn’t want to draft him, it always raises the question of whether it’s just sour grapes from someone who didn’t get his way. So this source’s comments need to come with a grain of salt.
But as King notes, Giants General Manager Dave Gettleman took a big swing when he traded up to draft Baker in last year’s first round -- and so far, none of Gettleman’s big swings at the cornerback position have panned out. If Gettleman doesn’t pan out, picking Baker in the first round may be one of the reasons.