The New York Giants are holding their breath now that it was learned that rookie cornerback Deandre Baker — the 30th overall selection in this year’s NFL Draft — left practice on Sunday to have an MRI performed on his knee.
Baker began camp in a battle with second-year player Sam Beal for the No. 2 cornerback slot. Beal has been sidelined with a hamstring issue that kept him out of last Thursday’s preseason game against the New York Jets and as of Sunday was still not practicing with the team.
Baker has been playing corner with the first-team defense across from veteran Janoris Jenkins and in Beal’s absence, had the inside track for the starting role come Week 1 of the regular season against the Dallas Cowboys.
If Baker is laid up, or somehow lost for a significant amount of time, the Giants will have to hope for Beal to recover quickly.
But there is always a silver lining for someone in these injury scenarios. The Giants have two other rookies that they can turn toe in Julian Love and Corey Ballentine, who have both been impressive this summer, but Big Blue would surely rather have Baker and/or Beal in the fold.
