It’s Week 9 of the NFL season and New York Giants rookie cornerback DeAndre Baker admits he’s still trying to find his niche in the Giants’ defense. In fact, he’s pretty much flat-out admitted he has very little idea what’s going on. And it shows.
On Monday night, Baker was caught flatfooted again, this time by the Cowboys’ Amari Cooper, who raced by Baker, caught a pass over the middle and proceeded onward for a 45-yard touchdown.
It appears the Giants were in man-to-man coverage and Baker was playing some type of zone, which explains why he let Cooper run free into the middle of the field.
Baker admits that nine games into his rookie season, he still doesn’t understand the Giants’ scheme.
“Just the plays and everything like that,” Baker said was what he needed to improve the most. “The playbook. Just knowing the plays. Knowing what I need to do. Knowing my assignment.”
Baker has started every game this season. It is troubling that he still doesn’t know the defense.
It is not the first time Baker — or his mates — got mixed up on coverages. It appears to happen almost weekly now. The Giants lead the league with 11 passing plays allowed over 40 yards.
Baker was the 30th overall selection in this year’s NFL Draft. The Giants traded up back into the first round to select the former Georgia star, surrendering their 2019 second-round pick (No. 37), a 2019 fourth-round pick (No. 132) and a 2019 fifth-round pick (No. 142) to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for No. 30 overall.
The Giants are still waffling on activating Sam Beal from injured reserve, which could help fortify their cornerback rotation. They have until Wednesday to make that decision.
