PATRIOTS 2024 FOURTH ROUND DRAFT PICK JAVON BAKER
Q: What can you tell us and Patriots fans about your game?
JB: Just come to the home stadium and bring your popcorn, as I like to tell y’all. Bring your popcorn. I make people in wheelchairs stand up. Bring your popcorn.
Q: What are your first impressions of Drake Maye and working with him?
JB: People don’t know this, but when Drake Maye was committed to Alabama at first, we always used to practice and throw around. So, me and Drake Maye got a connection going on. Drake Maye, I think, in my opinion, is the best quarterback in this draft, so when we connect again, it’s going to be a good connection.
Q: What do you remember about [Drake Maye] from those throwing sessions?
JB: Competitive and trying to get the ball in whatever spots I ask him to put it, he’d put it there. So, he’d be just competitive, a competitive quarterback, and that’s what I like in a quarterback. He is somebody that could push me, and I’ll push him.
Q: What are your impressions of joining the New England Patriots organization and when you think of the Patriots, what do you think of?
JB: Honestly, just being a part of that organization, I know it is a winning mentality, just like how it was at Alabama. Just winning, like everybody likes winning. It wouldn’t be a better opportunity and a better place to go to than this place, so I just can’t wait.
Q: Did you reach out to Drake Maye at all after he was drafted? Have you heard anything from him?
JB: I didn’t reach out to him when he got drafted, but as soon as I got drafted, he reached out to me. We just texted “congrats” and “let’s get to work.” JP, Ja’Lynn Polk, we’ve been working out this whole offseason and whole process, so we got a connection going on too. So, just us three alone is bringing back the winning mentality that everybody likes in Boston.
Q: You talked about that connection. Do you feel like this is a very good place for you to land with the two players that you were saying that about?
JB: Like I said earlier, this is a perfect opportunity, and I just can’t wait to put on that uniform.
Q: Based off your background, transferring to UCF, how much would you say there is a chip on your shoulder? And how much does the stuff that has happened to you in the past drive you?
JB: Honestly, there is always going to be a chip on my shoulder, no matter what. I’m so driven, so I know how it feels to be behind somebody, and I know how it feels to be (at) the bottom of the depth chart. So, I’m always going to have a chip on my shoulder regardless.
Q: What are you hoping to prove with the Patriots?
JB: Prove them everything. Prove to them what I can do. Prove to them I can do everything as a receiver. I would do anything to win, like just prove them that. Honestly, I am a team player and I want to prove to the team that I am one of them.
Q: You talked to Steve Smith before the draft a little bit about your game, and you said that once the ball is in your hand, you can change the game. What is it about what you do that can change the game?
JB: My mentality. I am a receiver. I don’t do anything but receive the ball. I don’t care if that ball is thrown out of bounds at the sideline, I’m going to receive the ball. So, at the end of the day, it’s that right there. My mentality is just different from any other receiver. I can get down and dirty, I can do anything. So, that right there, my mentality alone can just do anything as a receiver.
Q: Before the draft, Eliot Wolf mentioned that the team didn’t really have a true X [receiver], the guy who can line up on the backside and win in one-on-one coverage. It seemed like that was a place you had a lot of success in college, so do you feel like you can be that guy for this offense?
JB: Yes, I could be anything. Honestly, whatever Coach [Jerod] Mayo wants me to be, I can be. I could be X, Y, it really doesn’t matter to me.
Q: What allows you to thrive in those one-on-one matchups?
JB: Honestly, my mentality when I line up against that corner and I know that it’s game over for him.
Q: I saw that you were on Cam Newton’s 7-on-7 team. What was your relationship like with Cam Newton and has he ever spoken to you about his time in New England?
JB: Yeah, my relationship with Cam Newton is like a big brother relationship. Before the draft, we were just talking, and he was just telling me to just keep my head down and keep working. And I talked to him about Boston, because when I was doing the visit, I was talking to a lot of people about Cam and saying a lot of good things about Cam. I was just telling them, relaying the message and stuff like that. We were just laughing about it, but that’s really it.