Cardinals' Budda Baker Gives Health Update After Being Carted off Field vs. Rams

By Brian Jones

Budda Baker suffered a scary injury in the playoff game between the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams on Monday night and was carted off the field. The Cardinals safety was ruled out of the game after colliding with a Rams player and suffering a concussion. Baker was taken to the hospital for further evaluation, and on Tuesday morning he gave an update to fans, tweeting, "I am doing good." 

The incident happened in the third quarter when Baker hit Rams running back Cam Akers. As Baker hit Akers, he lowered and his head and left shoulder before hitting Akers' knee, which led to him falling to the ground. "It was just a football play,'' Akers said, per ESPN. "It wasn't nothing personal. I've got the utmost respect for Budda and that team.'' The Rams ended up beating the Cardinals 34-11 and will face Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round of the playoffs on Sunday. 

Baker was a big reason the Cardinals made the playoffs for the first time since 2015. In 17 games, Baker recorded 98 tackles, two sacks and three interceptions with seven passes defended. He was named to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time in his career and was also selected to the All-Pro Second Team. In August 2020, Baker signed a four-year $59 million contract extension with the Cardinals, making him the highest-paid safety in the NFL at the time. 

"It's definitely an exciting thing for me to be labeled [as the highest-paid safety in league history], to say that," Baker said to reporters shortly after the deal was done. "It was a very cool experience and it's a very cool experience right now. Baker added he's "labeled as this player and now I have to show out and continue to show out each and every week."  

As Baker continues to heal, the Cardinals will focus on the offseason and figure out how they can be better than what they were this year. After starting the year 7-0, the Cardinals struggled to find any consistency and finished the season 11-6. During Monday's playoff game against the Rams, Arizona only tallied 183 yards of offense while converting 0-of-9 third downs. 

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