It’s Budda Baker time for the Cardinals, whether he’s ready or not

Tyvon Branch’s ACL tear means it’ll be time for Budda Baker to show why he was worth a second-round pick.

Budda Baker hadn’t appeared in more than eight snaps in any game for the Arizona Cardinals in 2017, before Tyvon Branch went down with a torn ACL Thursday. That left the team no choice but to turn to the rookie.

Baker, 21, finished the game with 44 snaps, more than the 30 snaps he had in the first eight games of his career combined. He finished with seven tackles against the Seattle Seahawks, but Cardinals coach Bruce Arians wasn’t ready to praise the rookie after the game.

“I have to watch the film,” Arians said when asked what he thought of Baker’s performance. “All I saw was him getting lined up wrong a couple times.”

The Cardinals are No. 27 in the NFL in points allowed through nine games and No. 22 in yards allowed. That’s a dramatic downturn from 2016 when the team was second only to the Houston Texans in total defense.

Much of that drop off can be attributed to the losses of players like Calais Campbell and Tony Jefferson in free agency. The future of the Cardinals defense will rely on the development of Robert Nkemdiche, Haason Reddick and Baker to fill those voids.

So far none of the three has lived up to early draft billings, although it’s far too early to even consider using the word bust. Particularly for Baker, who will now get his first chance to show the Cardinals what he can do.

Its been a frustrating season of injuries for Arizona and that continued Thursday with the loss of Branch and offensive tackle D.J. Humphries for the year. The team’s offense is already without quarterback Carson Palmer and running back David Johnson.

But with Baker taking over the reins at free safety, that’s at least a reason to keep an eye on the Cardinals defense.