The Jacksonville Jaguars showed a day before the trade deadline that they were going all in on their defense, trading Jessie Bates III away from the Atlanta Falcons. They paid a nice price for him, but it's worth it when you're trying to acquire one of the best safeties in the league. They also probably had to beat out other suitors for him, as teams apparently are in the market for a safety.
The Buffalo Bills happen to be one of those teams, and they have interest in Budda Baker from the Arizona Cardinals, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.
“Jaguars swung big at safety but aren't only ones in that market. Bills have scanned the safety pool of late. My sense is Budda Baker would welcome chance to play for contender if AZ entertains talks (big if). Tennessee has calls on Amani Hooker but wants to keep him,” Fowler wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Baker has been in trade rumors for the past few weeks, and it's uncertain if the Cardinals actually want to move off him. Earlier last week, Fowler reported that the Bills and Jaguars were the two teams interested in the safety. Now, since the Jaguars landed Bates, it's all up to the Bills to go after him.
“Also on the Arizona front, safety Budda Baker remains on my radar, though he has been a Cardinals lifer and would be hard to trade. But my sense is the consistent losing has weighed on him, and teams such as Buffalo or Jacksonville could try to take advantage of that,” Fowler wrote.
There could be other teams that are interested in Baker, and they might be willing to pay a higher price than the Bills.