Javon Baker signed with Alabama in the 2020 class as an elite wide receiver recruit, but leaving the program was never his choice. His father made that call. Frustration over playing time, including a game against Georgia, put the family at odds with Nick Saban, a clash the father now traces to his own arrogance.
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“Javon never wanted to leave Alabama,” Baker said, via Derrick Tatum Recruiting And Exposure Expert’s Instagram post. “I made that decision because…being so arrogant that how dare you not play my son? How dare you not play my son against the University of Georgia? Okay. And because of that arrogance, me and Coach Saban clashed.”
Javon Baker’s father did not stop at making the call to leave Alabama. He also explained where that arrogance came from, and it started with the noise around his son’s program.
“I was arrogant,” said Baker. “And what really made me come to that thought process when Javon was at Alabama, I started to buy into the talk and buy into the talking heads, all these Alabama radio shows and podcasts and stuff, talking about the next greatest wide receiver to come out of Alabama.”
That kind of hype had some basis. Javon arrived as one of the top receiver prospects in his class and was rated a four-star by all the major outlets. He also showed early on that competition did not scare him.
During fall camp in 2020, Nick Saban had good things to say about him.
“Javon Baker is showing promise,” Saban said in 2020. “I think they all have. They just have to show some consistency in knowing what to do and playing with confidence. So far, Baker has had the most continuity. He missed the least amount of practice; he has been out there the most; he is just a real competitive guy. He has done a great job so far, but I am pleased with that entire core.”
The numbers tell a more modest story. Across 2020 and 2021, Baker played 18 games for the Tide and finished with nine catches, 116 yards and one touchdown.
His first season brought playing time in the last nine games after Jaylen Waddle went down with an injury, and he caught two passes for 15 yards. His second season was busier, with seven catches for 101 yards and a touchdown over 11 games.
Three games stood out. Against Southern Miss, Baker caught two passes for 59 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown, his first career score and the Tide’s last of that night. Against Cincinnati, he got extended minutes at wideout with John Metchie III out.
And against Georgia, the opponent his father pointed to, he worked on special teams and at receiver, then earned special teams snaps again in the second meeting.
After the 2021 season, Baker entered the transfer portal. He first committed to Kentucky but changed course and ended up at UCF.
The NFL chapter has been short and bumpy. The New England Patriots picked him 110th overall in the fourth round of the 2024 draft, and he signed his rookie deal that May.
He played 11 games as a rookie, started in one, and finished with a single catch for 12 yards. New England released him in August 2025 even after he had made the initial roster.
On September 5, he landed on the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice squad, but the Eagles cut him in mid-October. In December 2025, he signed with the San Francisco 49ers’ practice squad, and he was released in January 2026.
Baker’s path went from top recruit to practice squad cuts, a gap his father now blames on hype.