Rashad Steward Baker (born February 22, 1982) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

. He was signed by the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2004. 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 ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. Baker was also a member of the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

and

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 ...

Early life and college career

Born in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

, Baker attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden. Baker then attended the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

. Although Tennessee recruited Baker as a wide receiver, Baker switched to

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

in the fourth game his freshman year; Baker never played as free safety while in high school. Baker started four seasons for the

Tennessee Volunteers football The Tennessee Volunteers football program (variously called "Tennessee", "Vols", "UT", or "Big Orange") represents the University of Tennessee (UT). The Vols have played football for 130 seasons, starting in 1891; their combined record of 862� ...

team from 2000 to 2003 and also ran 110-meter hurdles on the Tennessee track team. With Tennessee, Baker started 41 of 45 games played and had 233 tackles, 11 interceptions, and 24 passes deflected. Baker made second-team All- SEC honors in 2001 as a sophomore and first-team All-SEC honors as a junior in 2002.

Professional career

Buffalo Bills

A projected sixth-round pick for the

2004 NFL Draft The 2004 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 24–25, 2004 at the Theater at ...

, Baker was signed by the

as an

in 2004 and played for the team through the 2006 season. Baker started 3 games of 14 played in his rookie season 2004 and never started any of 14 games played in 2005. As a rookie, Baker had 22 tackles, 1 pass deflected, 1 interception with a 26-yard return, and 1 forced fumble in 2004. In 2005, Baker had 18 tackles, 1 pass deflected, and 1 interception returned for 18 yards.

Minnesota Vikings

On September 2, 2006, the Bills waived Baker. The

signed Baker the next day. Baker played one game as a reserve for the Vikings on October 1 and was released on November 4.

New England Patriots

Baker was claimed off waivers by the

on November 7, 2006. He played 5 games with the Patriots in 2006 with 5 tackles. In 2007, Baker played 8 games and had 12 tackles. He was released on December 19, 2007.

First stint with Raiders

Baker was picked up by the

off waivers on the same day he was waived by New England. In the 2008 offseason, Baker's jersey number was changed from 28 to 22 to accommodate free agent acquisition

Gibril Wilson Gibril Donald Wilson (born November 12, 1981) is a former American football safety in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the New York Giants in the fifth round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tennessee. W ...

. He later changed his number to 27. In 2008, Baker played 10 games with 1 start for the Raiders and made 24 tackles, 4 passes deflected, and 3 interceptions.

Philadelphia Eagles

Baker signed a one-year contract with the

on March 11, 2009. He was released on August 18.

Second stint with Raiders

Baker re-signed with the Raiders on August 19, 2009. His number 27 was taken by Jason Horton, so Baker chose number 32. He was released from the Raiders on September 5, 2009.

NFL statistics

References

External links

New England Patriots bioOakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Rashad 1982 births Living people Woodrow Wilson High School (New Jersey) alumni Players of American football from Camden, New Jersey American football safeties Tennessee Volunteers football players Buffalo Bills players Minnesota Vikings players New England Patriots players Oakland Raiders players Philadelphia Eagles players