To put things lightly, Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker hasn't had the best start to his rookie season, and certainly not the start the first round pick had hoped for.
Coming out of Georgia, the 30th overall pick in the 2019 draft has struggled mightily since joining the NFL, and the wrong people are starting to notice.
According to ESPN's Jordan Raanan, two unnamed players described Baker as a "handful" this season, and it's an issue that has even become noticeable to opposing offensive players.
Baker typically finds himself lined up on the outside and in one-on-one situations, and has been absolutely torn apart in his short 10 game career.
However, his major problems aren't even about him allowing completions or the fact that he has a team-leading seven penalties this season, but are instead about being even able to trust if he knows his responsibility on the field during plays. It's about consistency.
There were questions about Baker's character, his questionable attitude and his lackadaisical training regimine heading into the draft, but the Giants took a chance on him and used one of their three first round choices on him.
Despite Pro Football Focus ranking him at 113th out of 113 cornerbacks through the first 10 games of the season, Baker has described his season as "up and down" and believes that he has actually gotten better as each week has passed.
"Just overall as a cornerback," Baker said on how he's progressed and gotten better this season. "More feel of the game. More comfortable."
Baker has allowed a 149.9 passer rating (worst in NFL), 629 yards (third most) and six touchdowns (tied for second most) so far this season, per Pro Football Focus.
One play against the Jets really showed Baker's lapse in performance and had the Giants entire team scratching their heads. Baker appeared to be jogging and showing a lack of effort on a play that turned into a 47-yard reception for the Jets' Demaryius Thomas in their last game before the bye week.
According to ESPN's sources, the play was reviewed harshly in front of the entire team after the loss to the Jets.
"I've never seen anything like it," one player said of the team meeting last week when Baker was grilled in front of his teammates.
The growing pains are certainly real for the rookie, but after a bye week and just some overall time to reflect, Baker has the chance to rewrite the script. It'll just be up to him whether or not he makes it happen.
