Kawaan
Baker.
Kawaan
Baker.
South Alabama
"A 6-foot-1, 219-pound Sun Belt receiver who doubled as a Wildcat runner and returner at South Alabama, with modest production against mid-major coverage — a Round-7 developmental slot bet on frame and utility."Pre-draft read
Baker profiles as a jumbo Z, excelling on manufactured touches like jet sweeps, screens, quick-game slants, and Wildcat carries. His size lets him clear press and cover ground, but he lacks suddenness and polished footwork in his route running. Releases leverage his frame over hand-fighting. Ball skills shine on back-shoulder throws and contested slants where he adjusts and finishes through contact. He’s a willing perimeter blocker on gap-scheme runs, staying on frame with linebackers.
Limitations include gathering before breaks, and drifting on option routes. His run-after-catch is physical, not creative, with tight change-of-direction. Versatility across receiver, slot, backfield, and returns offers a special-teams and gadget floor even if route detail needs development.
Shanahan outside zone, with spread elements and occasional Wildcat packages to create manufactured touches and hide an unrefined passing game.
Year 1: core special teamer, Wildcat/gadget player, and occasional perimeter blocker in 12 personnel. Ceiling: a physical Z-receiver who can contribute on back-shoulder throws and vertical concepts.
An Air Raid or West Coast timing offense, where his unrefined route tree, average short-area quickness, and lack of burst would limit his target share and ability to separate.
Baker projects best as a physical, versatile gadget player with a strong special teams floor, whose value is maximized in schemes that prioritize run-game integrity and manufactured touches over complex route running.
South Alabama WR Kawaan Baker Highlights
College highlight reel showing multi-role usage and contested catches.
South Alabama's Kawaan Baker among Saints Day 3 Draft Picks
Local news feature on Baker's selection by New Orleans.
Kawaan Baker - 2021 Saints Draft Pick Announcements
Official Saints draft announcement featuring college clips.
Baker arrived as a developmental receiver prospect, offering intriguing size and utility. At 6-foot-1, 219 pounds, he presented a versatile option, capable of contributing as a fifth receiver. His projected role was primarily as a special teams contributor with gadget packages, rather than a player expected to earn a significant target share.
He was utilized extensively at South Alabama in a variety of roles including outside receiver, Wildcat quarterback, and kick returner. Across four seasons, he accumulated roughly 100 receptions and a dozen scores, in addition to meaningful rushing and return volume. However, the competition level was predominantly Sun Belt secondaries, and the offensive system was run-heavy, often featuring an inconsistent quarterback room, which limited his exposure to a full pro route tree.
Due to the pandemic, formal combine testing was not available, forcing evaluators to rely on tape and informal pro-day numbers. Consensus boards typically placed him as a priority-free-agent to seventh-round grade. He was eventually selected in the seventh round with the 255th pick, reflecting a high-upside, low-risk projection based on his multi-role usage and special teams potential.
- 01
Positional versatility
Baker logged legitimate reps at outside receiver, slot, Wildcat runner, and both kick and punt returner, giving a 46-man game-day roster a coverage-and-gadget swiss-army option that survives injury weeks.
- 02
Play strength through contact
At 219 pounds he wins the initial punch on stacked slot leverage and finishes contested slants, playing bigger than his listed weight on second-reaction plays in the red zone.
- 03
Perimeter blocking effort
Willing and physical on gap-scheme runs, staying engaged through the whistle against Sun Belt corners and safeties, an underrated trait for a bottom-of-roster receiver projection.
- 04
Long-strider speed once vertical
Gets up to his top gear well after clearing the stem and can climb over the top of Cover-3 flat defenders on posts and go routes, a functional deep-shot dimension.
- 05
Ball tracking on back-shoulder throws
Late hands and body adjustment on fades and back-shoulder shots against boundary corners, showing coachable body control despite an unrefined route tree.
- 01
Route-tree refinement
Lived on manufactured touches and vertical stems at South Alabama; asked to run a full pro tree, he gathers before breaks on comebacks and drifts through option-route decisions.
- 02
Separation quickness
Not a foot-in-the-ground twitch mover, so his releases against press-corner leverage tend to rely on physicality rather than hand-fighting or two-way go footwork.
- 03
Level of competition
Sun Belt secondaries and inconsistent quarterback play inflate contested-catch flashes; hard to trust the tape as clean projection against NFL nickel and slot corners.
- 04
Run-after-catch creativity
Physical but linear once the ball is in his hands; tight change-of-direction lets pursuit angles catch him, capping his manufactured-touch upside as a pro gadget piece.
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | South Alabama | 12 | 7 | 102 | 1 |
| 2018 | South Alabama | 12 | 33 | 494 | 4 |
| 2019 | South Alabama | 12 | 35 | 574 | 3 |
| 2020 | South Alabama | 11 | 50 | 656 | 8 |
| Career | — | 47 | 125 | 1826 | 16 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Small-school Saints receiver whose real value ended up being returns and manufactured touches rather than route-tree separation.
Gadget-and-returner ceiling if the athletic profile is real and a staff commits to Wildcat and jet-sweep packages.
Sun Belt receiver who bounced between practice squads and 53-man depth on the strength of teams reps.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Pre-draft context. Baker finished his South Alabama career as a 6-foot-1, 219-pound multi-role senior with roughly 100 receptions, a dozen receiving scores, and meaningful rushing and return volume across four Sun Belt seasons. He was used as a Wildcat quarterback, jet-sweep runner, boundary Z, and kick returner, which produced a big frame and a versatile résumé but did not give him a full pro route tree. The 2021 evaluation cycle was gutted by the pandemic — no full combine, informal pro-day numbers, limited all-star exposure — and consensus boards had him graded as a late seventh-round or priority-free-agent developmental receiver rather than a projected contributor.
NFL fit — New Orleans Saints. New Orleans took Baker with the second-to-last pick of the draft, betting on frame, teams reps, and gadget utility rather than a target-share role. He did not make the initial 53-man roster, cycled through the practice squad, and had his 2022 season effectively ended by a six-game PED suspension announced by the league. Between the suspension, roster churn, and receiver depth ahead of him, he never accrued regular-season offensive production in New Orleans and washed out of the organization shortly after.
Retrospective. As a Mr. Irrelevant-adjacent pick, Baker's outcome is roughly what the slot signaled: a developmental multi-tool receiver whose route detail and separation never caught up to his frame, with a PED suspension shutting the door on a second look. The pick was cheap and defensible in isolation — teams and gadget utility on a rookie deal — but the league moved on quickly, and he settled into the same practice-squad-to-out-of-football arc as most late Day 3 mid-major receivers.