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George Kittle said something last fall that raised an eyebrow or two.
Kittle, the San Francisco 49ers star tight end, has seen a lot of football in his eight NFL seasons. He’s faced all the best defenses of his generation. And yet, there he was, on his family’s podcast, offering surprising praise for an Arizona Cardinals defense that — statistically — was average at best.
“They run a very different defense than anything I’ve really experienced in the NFL,” Kittle said.
What Kittle meant: The Cardinals' defense was wacky. Their 11 players could be wherever, whenever. What they showed pre-snap offered virtually no clues as to what they were going to do post-snap.
That level of confusion enabled a unit that was widely seen as having bottom-five talent to finish 16th in scoring defense and 20th in total defense. And all of it revolved around Budda Baker.
Allow Kittle to explain.
“They have some plays where Budda looks like he’s about to blitz, and he sprints out and he’s playing Cover-2 corner,” Kittle said. “They rotate and move, which makes targeting them in their run game very difficult. Because at the snap, you’ll have four DBs or three DBs across the top with only one linebacker in the box. So it’s like, okay, we’re gonna target the backer. But then at the last second, he pushes away and the safety comes down and Budda is running full speed through the B-gap unaccounted for and just smokes your running back.”
Kittle isn’t the only big name in the NFL who has publicly pointed to this effect. At last month’s NFL owners meetings, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel dove into Baker’s impact during an interview with ESPN.
“I think a guy that doesn’t get enough credit is coach (Jonathan) Gannon in Arizona,” McDaniel said. “He’s taken a non-traditional approach to feature a really good player in Budda Baker. This guy’s all over the place. … He’s kamikaze.”
Last year, though, the Cardinals almost had to revolve their defense around Baker. He was the unit’s only legitimate difference maker, at least before the emergence of nickel Garrett Williams.
Fast-forward a few months, and the picture looks different. The Cardinals spent $76.4 million on Josh Sweat. They added two impact veterans on the defensive line, in Calais Campbell and Dalvin Tomlinson. Their first two draft picks, Walter Nolen and Will Johnson, are seen as immediate difference makers.
That infusion of talent could have been seen as an opportunity to lessen the burden on Baker. But if you talk to the man himself, he doesn’t see it that way.
“I would expect (my role) to be similar,” Baker said. “A lot of teams' game plan is revolved around me. So as long as I can be in different areas, that messes up the offense's understanding of where I'm at.”
Ready for Year 2: What Marvin Harrison Jr. did this offseason and what he wants for Arizona Cardinals
That doesn’t mean Baker wants the defense to be identical. Last season, he finished with 164 tackles, the second most in the NFL. Typically, that list is filled with linebackers. Only one other safety finished inside the top 20.
Baker doesn’t see that as a positive.
It meant far too many opposing plays were getting to the third level of the Cardinals' defense. This spring, he says he’s been “talking smack” to the new additions, hoping they can help get his total tackles down.
“I've had 100-plus tackles a lot of years,” Baker said. “I wouldn't say I like that. I want to get interceptions.”
Still, Baker knows he’s the centerpiece of this defense. There’s a reason the Cardinals handed him a three-year, $54 million contract extension in December, preventing him from hitting free agency.
The way he sees it, his do-everything role will complement the new pieces, not overshadow them.
“(It creates) one-on-ones for our defensive linemen,” Baker said. “A lot of additions we have (are) outside linebackers and inside linebackers so as long as we can create one-on-ones and I can do my job at a high level, that's all that matters.”
Last year, the Cardinals didn’t always have the pieces to win those one-on-ones. Even if opposing offenses were confused by everything Baker was doing, they had time to solve the puzzle. The Cardinals finished 28th in pass-rush win rate, which measures how often a pass rusher is able to beat his blocker within 2.5 seconds.
This year, their pass rush and secondary should be able to work better together — with Baker still at the center of the operation.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Budda Baker remains centerpiece for remade Arizona Cardinals defense
Continue reading...
Kittle, the San Francisco 49ers star tight end, has seen a lot of football in his eight NFL seasons. He’s faced all the best defenses of his generation. And yet, there he was, on his family’s podcast, offering surprising praise for an Arizona Cardinals defense that — statistically — was average at best.
“They run a very different defense than anything I’ve really experienced in the NFL,” Kittle said.
What Kittle meant: The Cardinals' defense was wacky. Their 11 players could be wherever, whenever. What they showed pre-snap offered virtually no clues as to what they were going to do post-snap.
That level of confusion enabled a unit that was widely seen as having bottom-five talent to finish 16th in scoring defense and 20th in total defense. And all of it revolved around Budda Baker.
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Allow Kittle to explain.
“They have some plays where Budda looks like he’s about to blitz, and he sprints out and he’s playing Cover-2 corner,” Kittle said. “They rotate and move, which makes targeting them in their run game very difficult. Because at the snap, you’ll have four DBs or three DBs across the top with only one linebacker in the box. So it’s like, okay, we’re gonna target the backer. But then at the last second, he pushes away and the safety comes down and Budda is running full speed through the B-gap unaccounted for and just smokes your running back.”
Kittle isn’t the only big name in the NFL who has publicly pointed to this effect. At last month’s NFL owners meetings, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel dove into Baker’s impact during an interview with ESPN.
“I think a guy that doesn’t get enough credit is coach (Jonathan) Gannon in Arizona,” McDaniel said. “He’s taken a non-traditional approach to feature a really good player in Budda Baker. This guy’s all over the place. … He’s kamikaze.”
Last year, though, the Cardinals almost had to revolve their defense around Baker. He was the unit’s only legitimate difference maker, at least before the emergence of nickel Garrett Williams.
Fast-forward a few months, and the picture looks different. The Cardinals spent $76.4 million on Josh Sweat. They added two impact veterans on the defensive line, in Calais Campbell and Dalvin Tomlinson. Their first two draft picks, Walter Nolen and Will Johnson, are seen as immediate difference makers.
That infusion of talent could have been seen as an opportunity to lessen the burden on Baker. But if you talk to the man himself, he doesn’t see it that way.
“I would expect (my role) to be similar,” Baker said. “A lot of teams' game plan is revolved around me. So as long as I can be in different areas, that messes up the offense's understanding of where I'm at.”
Ready for Year 2: What Marvin Harrison Jr. did this offseason and what he wants for Arizona Cardinals
That doesn’t mean Baker wants the defense to be identical. Last season, he finished with 164 tackles, the second most in the NFL. Typically, that list is filled with linebackers. Only one other safety finished inside the top 20.
Baker doesn’t see that as a positive.
It meant far too many opposing plays were getting to the third level of the Cardinals' defense. This spring, he says he’s been “talking smack” to the new additions, hoping they can help get his total tackles down.
“I've had 100-plus tackles a lot of years,” Baker said. “I wouldn't say I like that. I want to get interceptions.”
Still, Baker knows he’s the centerpiece of this defense. There’s a reason the Cardinals handed him a three-year, $54 million contract extension in December, preventing him from hitting free agency.
The way he sees it, his do-everything role will complement the new pieces, not overshadow them.
“(It creates) one-on-ones for our defensive linemen,” Baker said. “A lot of additions we have (are) outside linebackers and inside linebackers so as long as we can create one-on-ones and I can do my job at a high level, that's all that matters.”
Last year, the Cardinals didn’t always have the pieces to win those one-on-ones. Even if opposing offenses were confused by everything Baker was doing, they had time to solve the puzzle. The Cardinals finished 28th in pass-rush win rate, which measures how often a pass rusher is able to beat his blocker within 2.5 seconds.
This year, their pass rush and secondary should be able to work better together — with Baker still at the center of the operation.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Budda Baker remains centerpiece for remade Arizona Cardinals defense
Continue reading...
