Budda Baker is in a standoff with the Arizona Cardinals.
The five-time Pro Bowler wants to be traded, but the Cardinals do not want to part ways with their star safety. While the staredown continues, pundits have been speculating about a potential landing spot for Baker if a trade does happen.
In his Monday Morning Quarterback column this week, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated floated the Broncos as a hypothetical trade partner.
“[I]f I’m, say, the Broncos, with Vance Joseph there, and I have a young receiver to spare for a team that might need one post–DeAndre Hopkins, would I think about it? I sure would,” Breer wrote Monday.
Jerry Jeudy or Courtland Sutton for Budda Baker?
Baker is set to have a salary cap hit north of $16.87 million this season followed by a hit of $17.97 million next year. Granted, some of that would be eaten by Arizona in a trade, but the safety will also want a big contract extension from his next team if he is traded to a new club.
The Broncos have also already said they do not plan to trade a wide receiver. If that’s true, Denver is left with just five draft picks for a hypothetical trade.
Broncos general manager George Paton seems very unlikely to give up draft capital and then commit a large portion of cap space for Baker when the team is already paying Justin Simmons an average of $15.25 million per year.
Swapping a receiver for Baker is an interesting idea from Breer, but it’s probably not practical for Denver.
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