If you weren’t aware, Arizona Cardinals player, Budda Baker, was injured in the middle of their playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams this past weekend. Here is all the information released and what you need to know regarding Baker and the extent of his injury.
If you are not familiar with the world of the NFL or just primarily watch college sports like me, you might have read this headline and experienced some confusion. Well, lemme break it down for you. This past weekend was the weekend of Wild Card playoff games. On Saturday, the Arizona Cardinals faced the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Towards the end of the third quarter with less than two minutes on the clock, Arizona Cardinals Safety, Budda Baker suffered what looked to be a major spinal and head injury in the middle of trying to stop Rams player Cam Akers. In seconds, Baker’s helmet collided at full force with Akers’ shoulder. Soon after, Baker remained on the ground until team trainers and medical staff rushed to his side. Besides Cardinal staff, both teams and their staff came over to Baker to support one another. Baker was soon put on a stretcher and taken off the field, headed to the hospital.
According to Mark Dalton on Twitter, the senior vice president of media relations for the Cardinals, the most Baker suffered was a concussion, and was able to move his limbs when being taken off the field. Once at the hospital, Baker was alert and communicative as well, according to a source. Baker later posted a video on his Instagram story, letting his fans and the media know that he was recovering and that “everything came out clean.” As of yesterday, January 19th, Baker has been released from the hospital and is back in Arizona.
When I first saw this incident while watching it live, I had a giant “oh shoot” moment, to put it lightly. Once I heard that Baker came out with only a concussion, I was in shock. After the game was over, I spent minutes rewatching Baker’s helmet come in contact with Akers’ shoulder, I thought Baker’s career was over. Just by the way his body locked up and hit the ground, I thought it was something spinal for sure, but thank the Lord above that it wasn’t.
