#DeAndre Baker witness saga sets up tricky Giants decision

This is a question new Giants head coach Joe Judge must be wrestling with right now regarding troubled second-year cornerback DeAndre Baker.

Sometime across the next 17 days before the Giants’ scheduled training camp report date of July 28, Judge is going to have to make one of the most significant decisions he’s been faced with in the six-plus months since he was hired to be the 19th head coach in franchise history.

That is, if he hasn’t made that decision already.

What to do with Baker, the troubled 22-year-old cornerback?

Does Judge give him another chance, risking the distractions that surely will come with him remaining with the team, not to mention the potential poor payoff if his performance on the field is as underwhelming in 2020 as it was in 2019?

Or does Judge, whose mantra this offseason has been based on building a winning culture inside a locker room that has lacked it for too long, simply move on from Baker and cut bait?

General manager Dave Gettleman traded up to get Baker at the end of the first round of last year’s draft. Part of his reputation is attached to whether or not Baker becomes a first-round-worthy player. So, it’s likely the embattled GM would rather not admit to his mistake this soon.

Conversely, Judge has no history with Baker, so if Baker is cut before camp, perhaps that’s an indication of the power the new coach may have over Gettleman with ownership.

Baker’s name surfaced in the news again this weekend — again for all the wrong reasons, which is to say non-football reasons.

Baker has followed his dubiously poor rookie season on the field with an even worse offseason off it, based on the four counts of armed robbery with a firearm and four counts of aggravated assault he was charged with stemming from an alleged May 13 house-party incident in Miramar, Fla.

For months, Patrick Patel, one of the attorneys representing Baker, has been adamant in comments to The Post’s Paul Schwartz that the case against his client is so weak it’s likely to be thrown out of court.

Yet on Friday, a report surfaced that Baker had Instagram direct-message exchanges with a man named Dominic Johnson, indicating he and Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar paid off four witnesses a total of $55,000 to keep them quiet.

If this is proven to be true, Judge may not have a decision to make at all on Baker.

Baker was told by the Giants in May to stay away from their virtual offseason program and focus on his legal issues in Florida in the aftermath of his incident.

Maybe it’s best for him to stay away from training camp, too, until (if?) he’s able to clear his name.