Selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the 11th round of the 1989 NFL draft, Baxter failed to make the team but caught on with the New York Jets.
After the 1993 season, Baxter's rushing totals began to diminish as he was featured less and less in the offense.
He missed the first week of mandatory minicamp in May 1996 due to an incident involving his off-season vocation as a truck driver transporting cattle between Enterprise, Alabama and Amarillo, Texas.
During his final haul the day before reporting for the start of camp, he was detained for twelve hours in Augusta, Georgia when United States Department of Transportation inspectors checked his logbook and discovered that he had been on the road too long without a break.
[2] He fell out of favor with head coach Rich Kotite and offensive coordinator Ron Erhardt, was replaced by Richie Anderson as the starting fullback and released by the Jets on August 25, 1996.