DeAndre Baker has almost certainly played his last game for the Giants – and possibly even his last game in the NFL.

His fate may have been sealed on Friday with the Florida State Attorney’s decision to officially charge Baker with four counts of robbery with a firearm, stemming from an incident back in May. The 22-year-old was placed on the NFL’s Commissioner’s exempt list in late July, and the Giants seemed content to let him stay there. But they are allowed to cut him while he’s on that list at any time.

The Giants had no comment on the charges, and a team source said no decision on Baker’s future had been made. But it’s clear that time and circumstances are not on his side. He is facing a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, and a possible life sentence if he’s convicted. And though he has pled not guilty and maintained his innocence through his attorneys, it could take up to six months for his trial to start in Florida, which would take the 2020 season out of play.

A source said that the Giants had indicated a willingness to bring Baker to camp before he was placed on the exempt list, even going as far as giving him a scheduled time to report for his COVID-19 test on July 28. Previously they had told him to stay away from their virtual offseason program meetings so he could concentrate on his legal issues.

Simply cutting Baker wouldn’t be an easy decision for the Giants. They invested a lot in him during the 2019 draft when they traded up into the first round to take him with the 30^th overall pick. It cost them three picks -- a second-rounder (37), fourth-rounder (132), and fifth-rounder (142) – in the deal with the Seattle Seahawks.

Walking away from a player that cost that much would not look good for embattled Giants GM Dave Gettleman. But even if he was willing – or ordered to move on by his bosses – there are other complications stemming from Baker’s four-year, $10.5 million contract that included $9.5 million guaranteed and a $5.7 million signing bonus.

Baker, right now, only counts for $2.4 million against the Giants’ 2020 cap. If they cut him, another $2.3 million would be added to that total, and he’d be on the books for another $2.3 million in 2021. However, the Giants would likely claim that the criminal charges against Baker trigger a clause in his contract prohibiting him from behavior that reflects poorly on the team, which could allow them to void his fully guaranteed salaries in 2020 ($973,442) and 2021 ($1,451,884) and his partially guaranteed salary in 2022 ($907,257 of $1,930,326). That would lessen any cap hit, though it likely wouldn’t get resolved in time to help them this year.

They also might be able to attempt to recoup some of Baker’s signing bonus. However, any move they try to make financially would likely be challenged by Baker’s agent and attorneys, and would be complicated by the fact that he’s only been charged, not convicted.

Of course, under the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy, the NFL doesn’t need to wait for a conviction to issue a suspension – and that could also give the Giants more time to make any decision and would allow them to stop paying his salary until the suspension is over. There has been no indication that a suspension is imminent, though. A league spokesman said only “We have been monitoring all developments in the matter which remains under review.”

So the question for the Giants is: As new coach Joe Judge attempts to rebuild the culture in the locker room and throughout the franchise, is it worth it to continue to wait for Baker? Or perhaps more importantly: Is it worth it for the Giants to continue to pay him while they wait? Given his rocky rookie season both on the field and in the locker room, where he struggled to learn the playbook and had his work ethic questioned by teammates, it seems very unlikely they’d be willing to wait, and keep paying him, for long.

Popular in the Community

More from sny