Jonathan David Baker (born August 13, 1972) is a former American football

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs. He also was a member of the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

and BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

Early years

Baker attended Foothill High School, where he lettered in football,

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

and basketball. In football, he was a two-time All-South Yosemite League selection, playing at kicker and quarterback. He enrolled at

Bakersfield Community College Bakersfield College (BC) is a public community college in Bakersfield, California. BC serves about 22,000 students each semester or 31,000 annually, and offers Associate degrees, certificate programs, and is one of fifteen California Community C ...

. As a freshman, he made 2 field goals of over 50 yards and hit a game winner with 0:01 seconds left. Baker transferred to

after his sophomore season. As a junior, he began kicking barefoot. He made 18-of-26 field goals and 26-of-26 point after attempts for 80 points. As a senior, he made 17-of-24 field goals and 23-of-24 extra point attempts for 74 points. He received Pac-10 Special Teams Player of the Week twice. He made 3 field goals in a game three times. At the time, only

Luis Zendejas Luis Fernando Zendejas (born October 22, 1961) is a Mexican former American football placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. He also was a member of the Arena Foot ...

had made more field goals in a season for Arizona State than Baker.

Professional career

Baker was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Dallas Cowboys after the

1995 NFL Draft The 1995 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount Th ...

. After

Chris Boniol missed the first 3 preseason with a pulled quadriceps in his right leg, the Cowboys were forced to make the unconventional move of keeping Baker as a kickoff specialist. He played in 3 games and was released on September 19. On May 16,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, he signed as a free agent with the San Francisco 49ers. He was cut on July 18. On April 2,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, he was re-signed by the San Francisco 49ers. He was limited with groin and heel injuries. On August 15, he was released after not being able to pass Gary Anderson on the depth chart. On February 18,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, he was signed by the Miami Dolphins and allocated to the

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, E ...

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

. He made 6-of-7 field goals, while the extra points were kicked by Scottish rugby player Gary Parker. He was released by the Dolphins before the start of the season on August 8. In

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, he played in eight games with the

of the Canadian Football League. He made 20-of-28 field-goal attempts and led the league with a 60.5-yard average per kickoff. He was released to make room for Sean Fleming, who returned from the Kansas City Chiefs of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

. On December 21,

, he was signed as a free agent by the Kansas City Chiefs, to be the team's kickoff specialist. He hit 3 kickoffs out of bounds in the season finale against the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

, which contributed to a 38-41 overtime loss. A win would have given the Chiefs the AFC West championship and a playoff berth. He wasn't re-signed after the season. In June

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, he signed with the

B.C. Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

of the Canadian Football League, handling the kickoffs and long range field goals, while Lui Passaglia attempted most of the field goal. He played in five games, until being released to make room for

Dan Giancola Dan Giancola Jr. (born January 28, 1970 in Thorold, Ontario) is a former placekicker in the Canadian Football League. Professional career Giancola made his CFL debut with the Toronto Argonauts during the 1999 CFL season as a 29-year-old rookie. In ...

on August 9. On October 22, 2001, he signed with the

to replace an injured Sean Fleming. He played in one game, missing one field goal and had another one blocked. He was released on October 28. On May 23,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, he was signed by the

Bakersfield Blitz The Bakersfield Blitz were a professional arena football team based in Bakersfield, California. They were a 2002 expansion member of the AF2 and played their home games at Rabobank Arena. In 2001, the original Blitz was owned by Casey Wasserma ...

of the af2. In

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, he set a league regular season record with a 54-yard field goal.

References

External links

Professional football stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Jon Living people 1972 births Players of American football from Bakersfield, California American football placekickers Bakersfield Renegades football players Arizona State Sun Devils football players Dallas Cowboys players Scottish Claymores players Kansas City Chiefs players Edmonton Elks players BC Lions players Bakersfield Blitz players Canadian football placekickers American players of Canadian football Players of Canadian football from California