When Giants General Manager Dave Gettleman spoke to reporters on Wednesday, he was asked about cornerback DeAndre Baker and said there’s “timing that’s involved” in addressing the 2019 first-round pick’s roster status.
Giants co-owner John Mara gave a read on that timing during his own session with reporters on Thursday. Baker is on the Commissioner Exempt list and facing four armed robbery charges, which is why people have wondered why he remains on the Giants roster.
Mara said that “a decision will be made sooner rather than later” about Baker and it doesn’t sound like that decision will result in a longer stay for the cornerback.
“The DeAndre Baker thing was just something we did not see coming,” Mara said, via Zack Rosenblatt of NJ.com. “I know I’ve read some stories saying there were red flags about him, but not in the sense that you would be concerned about criminal conduct at all. Obviously it’s something that’s embarrassing to the organization, it’s something that we’re going to deal with. It happens from time to time. Unfortunately 99.9% of our players are good citizens and this is one that we didn’t see coming and it’s something we’re going to have to deal with.”
The likeliest reason for the Giants to wait on cutting Baker is to be sure that the guarantees in his contract void as a result of his arrest because there’s been little sign from the team that they plan to stand by while waiting to see how things play out on the legal front.