We are just one day away from the NFL trade deadline on Nov. 10 and the Buffalo Bills continue to be linked to interest in a safety.

According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, the "Bills have scanned the safety pool of late," something that has been reported by more than one NFL insider over the past week.

However, Fowler also added in an interesting nugget on Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker, who he says might be open to leaving the Cardinals to join a contender.

The caveat, Fowler says, is the Cardinals' willingness to actually trade him.

"My sense is Budda Baker would welcome chance to play for contender if AZ entertains talks (big if)," Fowler reported.

Why Cardinals could and should trade Baker

The Cardinals are currently in the midst of a rebuild and their timeline just doesn't match up with Baker's.

After all, he'll be 31 in January and there's a good chance Baker will already be on the decline by the time the Cardinals are competitive again, if they even get to that point.

It makes all the sense in the world to trade Baker now, as his value may never be higher than it is currently. Not only is Baker still a top safety in the NFL, but he also has one more year left on his contract, which helps his stock further.

The Cardinals may not want to trade Baker because he is pretty much a franchise great at this point, but if the veteran tells Arizona he wants to be moved to have a chance to compete, we could definitely see the Cardinals obliging out of respect.

How Baker can help Bills

Baker is OK in coverage, but he is one of the very best box safeties in the NFL. The eight-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro is not only a very good run defender, he is also an elite pass-rusher when asked to blitz.

The Bills are currently lacking a starting-caliber safety next to Cole Bishop. Buffalo recently cut C.J. Gardner-Johnson and that leaves the team depending on Damar Hamlin, who we know is best suited as a backup, and Jalon Kilgore, who the jury is still out on.

Baker would shore up Buffalo's need in one fell swoop while also adding more toughness and veteran leadership to a defense that needs all the help it can get.

What a Baker trade might look like

We might have a measuring stick for what a Baker trade will look like.

On Monday morning, the Jacksonville Jaguars pulled off a trade for Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates, with the Jags giving up a 2027 second-round pick and a 2028 fifth-rounder. To get the deal done, the Falcons picked up most of his $6.5 million of salary.

That last part is especially important to note for the Bills, as they only have $3.9 million in cap space and will need more to fit in what's left of Baker's $14.4 million base salary.

Or, the Bills could look to have the Cardinals eat some or all of that, in which case it will cost more in draft capital to acquire Baker.

If the Bills take that route, we suspect they'll end up paying what the Jaguars did, or at least something close to that. If the Bills take on all of Baker's salary, we're probably looking at a third or fourth, and then a late Day 3 pick, also.

As for the Bills' available trade capital and cap situation, we wrote about how a potential deal would be affected, and there's clear path forward for general manager Brandon Beane.

Not only does Beane have the picks to get any of those deals done, he certainly has the motivation with the Bills being among the true Super Bowl contenders in the NFL this season.

But just because it makes sense doesn't mean the Bills are going to do it. We'll know for sure by Tuesday.