The Los Angeles Chargers have made an effort to improve the wide receiver position this offseason, bringing back Mike Williams in free agency before using draft picks on Tre Harris and KeAndre Lambert-Smith.
That gives Justin Herbert a lot more to work with in addition to Ladd McConkey, but the team could still be looking to further upgrade the unit. The New England Patriots have a young, once-promising prospect on their roster, but he hasn’t fared well there and the team could be taking offers before having to make the drastic move of cutting him.
That player would be Javon Baker, selected in the fourth round of last year’s draft. Despite making claims that he was one of the best wide receivers in the entire class, Baker fell to the fourth round. That was still considered a steal by some draft experts, but the team disciplined him after he posted a heated rant on Instagram following a ticket for refusing to move his vehicle, which was blocking traffic at Logan Airport.
That discipline was never made public, but he never seemed to recover from it during his rookie season. He was hardly on the field, seeing action on just 8 percent of the Patriots’ offensive snaps, and he caught one pass for 12 yards.
Baker seemed to be in the doghouse the entire season under Jerod Mayo and will now look to get into a better spot on a team run by Mike Vrabel. But do the Patriots even want to mess with him?
Anthony Palacios of Last Word on Sports sees a trade in his future and he predicts that the Chargers could be interested.
“The Los Angeles Chargers are in dire need of another wide receiver. Even though Javon Baker might not be ready for full-time duties, he could have some untapped potential similar to 2025 draft pick Tre Harris. Unfortunately, Ladd McConkey is the only set of reliable hands, and they need some type of juice to restore faith in the pass-catching unit that contains Mike Williams and Quentin Johnston. Baker isn’t going to single-handedly change this offense around, but it’s a new opportunity to test that out”, wrote Palacios.
Saying that the team is in “dire need” of another wide receiver might be a bit much, as the team has a decent set of options at the position and would just be taking a flyer on Baker to see if the talent outweighs the character issues that seem to be there.
Baker is a talented prospect, but many talented prospects have failed miserably at the professional level because they never learn to become a professional. Baker could be in that class.
The Patriots don’t boast one of the league’s best wide receiving groups, but there are already predictions being made that Baker won’t make this year’s 53-man roster. There are others who state that Baker’s talent should lead to him being on the field, if it were about pure talent alone.
Lost in this discussion is the compensation the Patriots would be looking for in return for Baker. If he is a player the team will likely cut, it will be hard for them to ask for much. If the Chargers can get him for a seventh-round pick, it might be worth a shot to see what they can get out of him. Anything more than that is probably not worth it.
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