Budda Baker, Arizona Cardinals

We continue it as the Zach Gelb Show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio inside the Phoenix Convention Center as we continue to inch closer and closer to the big game Super Bowl 57 between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. And now joining us on behalf of Old Spice, actually one of my favorite players in the NFL.

I'm not a Cardinals fan but I really do enjoy watching him play each and every Sunday and that is the All-Pro safety in Buda Baker. Buda, how you been? I've been great, how about you?

I'm doing fantastic. So this year clearly didn't go the way that you guys envisioned it. When you look back at Hopkins out the first six games, then Kyler gets hurt, how do you kind of explain what happened this year when you review it?

Yeah, you know, it's a mixture of everything. Of course, it starts with the beginning of the season like always. You know, having DHOP on the field and not having DHOP on the field. When you have DHOP on the field and you put them in, you know, by one formations, you kind of know exactly what type of defenses guys are running because if you don't have a safety over top, you know, K-1 has a likely chance to go one-on-one. So just early in the beginning of the season, of course, training camp, there's some injuries. You know, not playing any preseason games.

Of course, like I said, not having DHOP. Just a little bit of mixture of everything in the beginning. And then, of course, we try to get better, had those, you know, few good games. But at the end of the day, you know, we weren't able to, you know, kind of get it back together in a sense. And, you know, it was a long season. The last few years before this one, you guys got off to good starts and then had bad finishes. Yeah.

Now you're going to wait to see who the new head football coach is and what the new culture is going to be of the Cardinals. But you've had a relationship with Cliff Kingsbury. How'd you process it when you found out that he got fired? Yeah, it was a long season. Yeah. You know, I definitely understood the situation of how it was going on. You know, of course, in this league, when you don't really have winning seasons, you know, you're liable to get fired.

So, you know, I understood and learned off of social media. And, you know, for me, it was great to have Cliff as a head coach. He was a great person.

I hope he is having a great time out there in Thailand. And, you know, for me, it's just a matter of who is that head coach going to be? What is that coach going to be? You know, what are the coaching staff going to be? What are they going to bring, you know, to the team? And then, off of understanding that, then that's how you are able to develop, you know, a new foundation. So, for me, this is my first rodeo.

This is my fourth time doing this. And, you know, just trying to see who our head coach is going to be. I've never seen, though, a coach, as we're talking to Buddha Baker, get fired and then have a one-way ticket to Thailand.

You mentioned Thailand. I almost forgot about it for a second, but I wonder when he's coming back. Yeah. I mean, he just signed an extension last year before the season.

Sit on the money. I mean, it's like he's getting paid either way, and he's just out there. So, hopefully, he's having a great time. And, you know, hopefully, he comes back when he feels he's ready to come back. And whether that's coaching NFL ball, coaching whatever ball, but you need that as a player. You need that as a coach to just get away, get away from everything, social media, you know, football, the sport itself.

And, you know, it's kind of like a grounding type of innocence. So, just, you know, praying for that guy. Hopefully, he's having a great time. And, you know, just want to see who our head coach is going to be. Yeah. It's got to be bizarre for you because it's now been a few weeks.

There's only two jobs left, and it's like, okay, they hired Monty Ostenfurt, but what's really going on with the Cardinals? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, I'm a firm believer of controlling what I can control. And that is, of course, my recovery. I fractured my shoulder two weeks before the season ended. So, just recovery, trying to get my mobility, strength all back, and just be the best player, best person I can be. And then, you know, once everything starts ramping up, hopefully, we have all the tools and information, coaches and, you know, all that since.

And then we play ball from there. Where are you at in your rehab process? Because I'm looking at you right now. You look pretty damn good.

You look like you go play tomorrow. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm blessed, man. I was, you know, fractured my shoulder, six-week process. I'm in my fifth week and completely healed. You know, so now it's just a matter of getting that strength back, the mobility is all back.

So, just getting that strength back and, you know, just getting ready to, you know, put myself through the wire again next year. What was the best vacation you've ever taken, by the way? I'm still fixated on the whole Thailand thing. So, what's the best vacation that you've gone on, Buddha Baker? Man, I haven't been on much vacations like that, but one time I went to Puerto Vallarta and I went to some, like, it was like a rainforest hotel. It was amazing. Like an hour, two hours away from the airport, drove there and the next, you're just in the rainforest and there's just a bunch of, like, you know, bungalows overlooking the water.

It was really nice and, you know, had a chance to go out into town and just kind of go out and see their little cities that they have, party towns, and it was definitely special and cool to see and be a part of. There's all these rumors as the offseason is going to get really underway coming up shortly. One of them is that DeAndre Hopkins is going to get traded this offseason. How would you react to that if you get an alert this offseason that DeAndre Hopkins got traded from the Cardinals? Yeah, I mean, DeAndre Hopkins is one of the best receivers in the league, so just seeing him not on, you know, the same team I have that I'm on would definitely be, you know, for me, weird and just not, just weird, you know? Just the sense of, you know, he's a great player, a guy who can, shows up every Sunday and plays a, you know, really good, you know, guy where K went and trusts and, you know, K wins our franchise quarterback, so of course you want to keep him happy.

So, you know, we'll see how it all goes. Like I said, it's a control what you can control and I know DeAndre Hopkins is controlling what he can control and that's just how he, you know, approaches the game and how he is for himself throughout the offseason. You know, I see him doing a bunch of, you know, things outside of football, fundraisers, just a whole bunch of things and it's definitely special to be a teammate of his to see that he's helping the community. You said Kyler Murray is your franchise quarterback. We know he's played like one.

There's always a conversation of how high his ceiling can be. Where is your belief level at with Kyler Murray and what type of quarterback do you have beat in that locker room each and every day? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Franchise, I mean, he just got paid some good money last year, so of course he's a franchise. But some guys get paid that aren't franchise quarterbacks. Yeah, yeah, but I mean, I think he's a franchise quarterback, a guy who can, you know, run outside the pocket, inside the pocket.

He can throw the ball inside the pocket, outside the pocket, make intermediate passes, can throw the deep ball. He can do everything an NFL QB can do and more, and a guy who just needs, you know, we all need some structure, you know, the whole team. You know, we need structure, we need culture, we need to understand who we are as a team, and that all is going to be, of course, starting with the head coach. You know, players can start culture and they can start the foundation, but at the end of the day, you need that head coach to be that, you know, that, you know, number one in a type of sense.

So, see how he is, whoever it is, and hopefully, you know, we go from there. Do you trust the leadership skills, though, Kyler? Of Kyler? Do I trust the leadership skills of Kyler? I mean, Kyler is a great QB. He's a winner.

He's been winning since he was a young guy. And I definitely feel like he's getting better each and every year, whether that's talking to, you know, the offense or what they want to do, or whether that's talking to the team or talking to the defense. And, you know, everybody, of course, can get better at everything, so we can all get better. I can get better at leadership myself. And, you know, so, you know, I'm definitely excited to see him recover and hopefully he gets better and hopefully we can get him in the season, you know, early on.

Yeah, that would be nice because you're right, it's like bizarre. You don't have a coach right now, you don't know when the quarterback's coming back, and you don't know when the star wide receiver is going to be there or not this year. Yeah. But we know that you're going to show up and you're going to ball out this year. Of course. No matter what, no matter who, where, you know, I'm going to put my best foot forward week in and week out. And, you know, I'm going to do all the things I possibly can do to get better as a person, but also get better as a friend, teammate, and player. So that's my main goal each and every week, each and every day is just to help to be that figure for guys to come up to me, whether you're a rookie or whether you're a tenth year player. And if you don't have an understanding on a concept or anything, you know, I could be that person to help you out.

Or if I don't have the answers, to get someone to help you out. Because at the end of the day, we all know in this league and the NFL, if you don't know what you're doing, everything's going to be playing faster than you and you're not going to have a good game. So, you know, that's usually how it works. Tell me what you're doing today on behalf of Old Spice. Oh, today on behalf of Old Spice, I'm representing Old Spice for the P&G's Battle of the Paddle tournament. It's a table tennis tournament against, you know, some of the best NFL players. You're going to beat Trevor Lawrence? I talked to Trevor Lawrence yesterday. Yeah, yeah, I talked to him in the Pro Bowl.

He had the hair flowing, he was looking good, ready to go for this tournament. Yeah, Mr. Sunshine, you know, hopefully, you know, we talked a little bit of smack in the Pro Bowl. Jerry Goff has been talking a little bit of smack. So, for me, I'm not a smack talker right now. I like to smack talk during the game. You know, when it's about 1-2-0-0, I'm going to be smack talking the whole way. And, you know, let the best man win. And just know I'm bringing my paddle, I'm from here, I might even drive there. So, you know, I'll be excited, I'll be ready.

So, we'll see what these guys got. If you need a crew with you, I'll come, I'll talk some trash against the other guys if you want. Yep, I might need you to hit an elbow on accident right before they hit it, you know. I could do that, it was pretty much like my basketball career. Just throw dirty elbows in the post all the time. Exactly, you know, you got five fouls, you got enough.

No points, five fouls. I'm like Ben Simmons, pretty much. Buddha Baker, good to see you.

Thanks so much. Kevin Matt talks with Matt Hardy. There's nothing like a wrestling fan, you know, for better or for worse. How do you handle that, though? We're talking about people talking about your family, what they don't know about your family, or your brother, or you. How does one handle that from a day-to-day basis? Something I joke about with the young bucks all the time. I said if you would Vanity Search Matt Hardy on Twitter, I said after you got through a hundred plows, you'd want to quit the business and never be seen again.

It's just, you just learn to deal with it, you know what I mean? It's the Kick Rocks! Wrestling Podcast with Evan T. Mack.

Subscribe now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Kevin Matt talks with Matt Hardy. There's nothing like a wrestling fan, you know, for better or for worse. How do you handle that, though? We're talking about people talking about your family, what they don't know about your family, or your brother, or you. How does one handle that from a day-to-day basis? Something I joke about with the young bucks all the time. I said if you would Vanity Search Matt Hardy on Twitter, I said after you got through a hundred plows, you'd want to quit the business and never be seen again.

It's just, you just learn to deal with it, you know what I mean? It's the Kick Rocks! Wrestling Podcast with Evan T. Mack. Subscribe now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. The biggest game of the year, the Super Bowl, is on Odyssey.

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