The early years
Baker attended Benedictine High School in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a member of the 2014 State Championship football team while at Benedictine and was considered the #2 recruit in the state of Ohio for the class of 2015. He originally committed to the University of Florida to play college football but changed his commitment to Ohio State University.
College Career
Baker played at Ohio State from 2015 to 2017. After his junior season in 2017, he decided to forgo his senior year and enter the 2018 NFL Draft.During his career, he had 159 tackles, seven sacks, and two interceptions.
Professional Career
On June 2, 2018, the Miami Dolphins signed Baker to a four-year, $3.80 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $975,200. Throughout training camp, Baker competed to be the starting strongside linebacker after the role was left vacant by the departure of Lawrence Timmons. Head coach Adam Gase named Baker a starting outside linebacker to begin the regular season.
He made his professional regular-season debut and the first career start in the Miami Dolphins’ season-opener against the Tennessee Titans and made six combined tackles during their 27–20 victory. He finished his rookie season in 2018 with 79 combined tackles (57 solos), three pass deflections, three sacks, one interception, and one touchdown in 16 games and 11 stars. Baker earned an overall grade of 70.3 from Pro Football Focus, which ranked as the 29th best grade among all qualified linebackers in 2018.
Baker's career has continued to soar signing a three-year, $39 million contract extension with the Dolphins on June 13, 2021
