Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker will be charged with four counts of robbery with a firearm, per an announcement from the Broward State Attorney’s office. Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar – who was previously alleged to be his accomplice – will not face charges, due to a lack of evidence.

Both players are currently on the commissioner’s exempt list, which bars them from playing or practicing. The Giants effectively beat the league to the punch on that front, having asked Baker to stay home shortly after the incident. The Seahawks, on the other hand, had Dunbar log in for virtual offseason activities.

Baker was originally facing eight felony charges while Dunbar was facing four. Recently, Baker was reported to be involved in an attempt to pay off witnesses to recant their statements related to the robbery. Dunbar’s former attorney, Michael Grieco, was allegedly involved in this scheme as well. Baker’s attorney denies this occurred and said his client has passed a lie detector test.

Baker, entering his second year as a pro, was a first-round pick of the Giants in 2019. He was their biggest draft investment at cornerback since Eli Apple, but he struggled in coverage as a rookie. The Giants were hoping to see him take a step forward as a starter this year, but it seems unlikely that he’ll take the field anytime soon.

Dunbar, meanwhile, was traded from the Washington Football Team to the Seahawks. Last year, Pro Football Focus graded him as one of the league’s best corners, and he finished out with four interceptions.

Giants cornerback Deandre Baker has been placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt list, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Baker, of course, is facing several charges for his alleged role in an armed robbery. Dunbar has landed on the list as well, Rapoport adds (via Twitter). Both players will appeal this placement, per Paul Schwartz of the New York Post and Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times (Twitter links).

The Exempt list means that Baker and Dunbar will be barred from playing or practicing, though they will be paid while they wait in limbo with the league office. Effectively, the Exempt list is used to give the NFL time to wait things out while legal matters and the league’s own investigation plays out. Earlier this year, the Giants asked Baker to stay home and focus on his off-the-field matters. The Seahawks, however, were including Dunbar in their virtual offseason.

Baker is facing eight felony charges stemming from his alleged involvement in an armed robbery that took place in May. Dunbar faces four. Last month, Baker was reported to be involved in an attempt to pay off witnesses to recant their statements related to the robbery. Dunbar’s former attorney, Michael Grieco, was allegedly involved in this scheme as well. Baker’s attorney denies this occurred and said his client has passed a lie detector test.

Prior to Monday’s news, the Giants had not informed Baker to stay away from camp. The second-year cornerback was planning on attending, per Schwartz. The Giants traded back into the first round to draft Baker in 2019. He represents their biggest draft investment in a cornerback since they used a top-10 pick on Eli Apple four years ago. Baker struggled in coverage as a rookie but was expected to remain a starter under new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham this season. Monday’s news will stall such plans and may well force the Giants to look at possible replacement options — at least for the time being.

Seattle sent a fifth-round pick to Washington for Dunbar, whom Pro Football Focus graded as one of the NFL’s best corners in a breakout, four-interception 2019 season. The sixth-year defender landing on the Exempt list, however, will force the Seahawks to play other corners in his place. Seattle’s 2019 starters, Shaquill Griffin and Tre Flowers, remain on the roster.

Amidst allegations that he facilitated a payoff of victims in an effort to convince them to change their stories, Michael Grieco, defense attorney for Seahawks CB Quinton Dunbar, has withdrawn his appearance, as Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times tweets. Dunbar will move forward with the counsel he hired last week, Michael D. Weinstein.

Grieco offered the following statement: “We agreed that new counsel would allow for continued advocacy of Mr. Dunbar’s innocence without any collateral distractions.” Indeed, Grieco was under criminal investigation for his role in the alleged payoff as of June, though it’s unclear whether that investigation is still ongoing.

Given these new developments, it does not sound as if the cases against Dunbar and Giants CB Deandre Baker are going away anytime soon. And John Clayton of 710 ESPN Seattle hears from one of the Miami Herald reporters who is covering the story, David Ovalle, that courts in the region are so backed up due to coronavirus closures that it could take until 2021 or 2022 for the matter to proceed to court.

Clayton’s story does not reference how courts are handling criminal defendants’ speedy trial rights in the wake of COVID-19, but assuming that the cases for Baker and Dunbar do indeed get pushed back that far, their immediate NFL futures become even more difficult to predict (not to mention their long-term futures as free member of society). In ordinary circumstances, the league might put them on the commissioner’s exempt list until there is a resolution — which Clayton suggests could still happen — but our COVID-19 reality is anything but ordinary. And while the league could suspend the players, it would have to be an indefinite suspension that could last several years.

So, for now, it seems as if Dunbar and Baker are free to play, assuming their respective teams allow them to do so. Clayton confirms earlier rumors that the Giants are considering cutting Baker, but we have not yet heard that Seattle plans to move on from Dunbar.

The alleged cover-up attempt surrounding a incident in May that resulted in felony charges for Giants CB Deandre Baker and Seahawks CB Quinton Dunbar created a major plot twist in the evolving saga. The latest reports suggest that a witness to the incident, Dominic “Coach” Johnson, worked with Baker and Dunbar’s attorney, Michael Grieco, to pay other witnesses to recant their earlier testimony implicating the NFL players.

And according to Nicholas Nehamas, David Ovalle, and David Smiley of the Miami Herald, Grieco was under criminal investigation for his involvement at least as of last month. A spokeswoman for Miramar (Fla.) police said she could not comment on whether Grieco was still being investigated.

Grieco issued a statement saying that the witnesses are “seasoned career criminals” who have been attempting to extort Baker and Dunbar from the jump. Video footage, however, suggests that the alleged payoff took place at Grieco’s office, and Grieco presented to police affidavits from those very same witnesses immediately after the meeting. All five affidavits, according to police, are identical.

It’s not a good look for Grieco, Dunbar — who has retained additional counsel — or Baker. But Baker’s attorney, Bradford Cohen, says his client paid no one, has passed a lie detector test, and is the victim of a smear tactic (Twitter link).

Patrick Patel, an attorney who represents Baker in NFL-related matters — but who appears to be involved in strategizing his criminal defense just the same — tells Paul Schwartz of the New York Post that he and Cohen knew about the payoff attempt, and that they encouraged Baker to participate in the farce in order to expose it for what it really was. If that’s true, of course, then that means Grieco and Dunbar may indeed have paid for what they got.

As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out, Dunbar and Baker may well have committed the crimes as alleged, but the victims may have seen an opportunity to cash in just the same. Both things can be true. But at this point, it looks as though Dunbar’s and Baker’s respective approaches must diverge, so this matter just became even more fascinating to follow.

Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times says the Seahawks have not yet considered cutting Dunbar, though Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News — who broke the original payoff story — cites unnamed Giants sources who said they don’t expect Baker to be on the club much longer.