The Patriots selected UCF wide receiver Javon Baker with the 110th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and needless to say, he’s ready to prove his doubters wrong.
Following a trip to his Instagram Live where he told viewers that it, “took too f— long” for him to get drafted and that the rest of the league is “finna pay,” Baker hopped on a call with local reporters to talk about his mentality following his selection by New England:
“The mentality is just kill whoever’s on the other side of me,” he explained. “It’s really the Mamba mentality. That’s it.”
Baker was then asked about his game as a pass catcher — but instead of divulging into his skillset opted to tell Patriots fans to “come to the home stadium and bring ya’ll popcorn. That’s all I can tell ya’ll. Bring ya popcorn.”
“I make people in wheelchairs stand up.”
New #Patriots WR Javon Baker on his game:
"Just come to the home stadium and bring y'all popcorn. That's all I'll say.
I make people in wheelchairs stand up."
— Mike Kadlick (@mikekadlick) April 27, 2024
Before finishing his collegiate career at UCF (where he put up 1,139 yards and seven touchdowns in 2023), Baker played at the University of Alabama — where he was able to develop a connection with his new quarterback, Drake Maye.
“People don’t know this, but Drake Maye was committed to Bama at first,” Baker explained. “We always used to practice and throw around so me and Drake Maye got a… connection going on. Drake Maye is really, in my opinion, the best quarterback in this draft. When we connect again, it’s gonna be a good connection.”
He continued: “He’s a competitive quarterback and that’s what I like in a quarterback. Somebody that can push me and I’ll push him.” Baker added that Maye has already reached out to him and that he’s familiar with the Patriots’ second-round pick Ja’Lynn Polk.
“We was working out [throughout] this whole offseason, this whole process,” he said of Polk. “So we’ve got a connection going on too. So just — us three alone, we just gonna bring back the winning mentality that everybody like in Boston.”
Baker joins a 2024 Patriots draft class of Maye, Polk, OT Caelan Wallace, and OG Layden Robinson. Notably, their first five picks have all come on the offensive side of the ball.
New England finishes up rounds five, six, and seven with picks 180, 193, and 231.
Follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick for the latest up-to-date Patriots and Boston sports news!
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