Kay wrote that Buffalo’s secondary “has become a liability,” and that a versatile safety like Baker could bring it back to respectability.
Buffalo’s Problem
The Bills are 5-1 coming out of their bye, but they allow 285.8 passing yards a game, the second-most in the NFL.
SHOULD THE #BILLS TRADE FOR #CARDINALS SUPERSTAR SAFETY BUDDA BAKER…? Baker is 30, an 8x Pro Bowler and 4x All-Pro. A future Hall of Famer and one of the best defensive backs of his generation. Buffalo could use help in its secondary and should be aggressive at the deadline. https://t.co/Ylgln7PchK
— MLFootball (@MLFootball) October 26, 2026
Buffalo ranks 30th in scoring defense and has allowed 15 passing touchdowns, and it recently brought Tre’Davious White back for a third stint.
What Baker Offers And Costs
Baker is 30, an eight-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro, and he has a career-best 3.5 sacks along with 44 tackles, an interception, and four passes defensed in seven games.
His seven pressures rank third among 93 safeties, per PFF, and he’s in the second year of a three-year, $54 million extension that runs through 2027.
He has a $14.4 million base salary this season and a $20.9 million cap number in 2027, and Buffalo has less than $4 million in cap space, so Arizona would likely have to keep some of the money.
#AZCardinals S Budda Baker (groin/illness) is listed as questionable and expected to play against the #Broncos, source says.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 25, 2026
The Cardinals would carry about $3 million in 2027 dead money if they traded him, and they’d likely want more than a third-round pick.
The Cardinals are 2-5 and traded Marvin Harrison Jr. to Houston earlier this month, and Baker has requested a trade in the past.
