Former Saints WR Kawaan Baker signs with the Packers after serving 6-game suspension
A couple of former New Orleans Saints wide receivers found new teams this week. Kawaan Baker finished serving his 6-game suspension for an offseason PEDs policy violation and ended up signing with the Green Bay Packers practice squad following a group tryout.
Baker, 24, was selected by the Saints in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL draft out of South Alabama but struggled to find snaps in the rotation despite a wave of injuries hitting the position in each of his two years in black and gold. Now he’s wearing No. 82 in Green Bay.
If there’s anything positive to take away here, it may be that the Saints feel optimistic about Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry getting off of the injury report soon. With Chris Olave back in the lineup, Baker would have been hard-pressed to get into games ahead of Marquez Callaway, Tre’Quan Smith, Keith Kirkwood, Rashid Shaheed, and practice squad receivers Kevin White and Kirk Merritt. Green Bay’s receiving corps is banged-up and talent-poor, so there are better opportunities for him up north.
And the Seattle Seahawks picked up former Saints wide receiver Easop Winston Jr. after a group tryout. A former Washington State Cougar, Winston spent most of the last year on New Orleans’ practice squad but was waived late in the summer during roster cuts. He’s on the Seattle practice squad closer to home after pursuing a couple of different opportunities as a free agent.
Quite a few former Saints players tried out for other teams this week. Here’s the full list, per the daily NFL transactions wire:
WR Kawaan Baker (Green Bay Packers-signed)
WR Easop Winston Jr. (Seattle Seahawks-signed)
WR Dai’Jean Dixon (Seattle Seahawks)
CB DaMarcus Fields (Washington Commanders, Carolina Panthers)
CB Tre Swilling (San Francisco 49ers)
CB Ken Crawley (Tennessee Titans)
RB Abram Smith (Miami Dolphins)
OL Sage Doxtater (Arizona Cardinals)
List
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