Bolden traded

[OutsideRzAcE]

I do not like this deal. A 6th? Really. They could not do better than a 6th? This guy was THE dominant personality and leader on offense. He brought toughness and swagger to that side of the ball. There were times when the offense just wasn't moving and when that happened who did they turn to do bail them out? They got rid of the guy who showed up big in the biggest games the Ravens have played...for $2 million? This is ridiculous.

[papasmurfbell]

A 33 yo WR whose production fell. Yeah a 6th is about it. Minny went 7th.

[cravnravn]

Minny offered us a 7th. apparently teams dont feel the same about Boldin as we do.

[OutsideRzAcE]

He's 33 not 36. What are you afraid he's going to lose? His speed? He is already slow. Mason was putting up 1000 yard seasons well after he was 33. He has a lot left in the tank.

[OutsideRzAcE]

Minny offered us a 7th. apparently teams dont feel the same about Boldin as we do.

Then I think they should have kept him if they couldn't do better than a 6th. This is an epic fail if we don't manage to use the money to bring back Ellerbe.

[vmax]

Then I think they should have kept him if they couldn't do better than a 6th. This is an epic fail if we don't manage to use the money to bring back Ellerbe.

 

Brace yourself....he might be gone too. Somebody will over pay for him.

[vmax]

The sobering truth...

 

 

Super Bowl champions get off track when they get overly emotional. Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome insisted he wouldn't make the mistake of trying to keep the band all together, like the Ravens did after their first world championship.

Boldin's epic playoff run will go down in Ravens history. But he's a player set to turn 33 years old and unlikely to ever play at that insanely high level again. His speed has deteriorated rapidly. More to the point: The Ravens have salary cap issues, and Boldin's allotted money can now be spent on younger players like linebacker Dannell Ellerbe. Or more valuable players like safety Ed Reed.

That doesn't mean it's a bad deal for the 49ers. It's a low-risk, one-year gambit. It's a better deal for the Ravens because of what it signifies. The Ravens knew Boldin wasn't part of the team's long-term future and didn't let all that post-Super Bowl bubbly intoxicate them.

Newsome knows that popular decisions usually aren't the right ones.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000149445/article/anquan-boldin-trade-a-necessary-evil-for-ravens

 

It's all about the future and the cap.

[OutsideRzAcE]

Brace yourself....he might be gone too. Somebody will over pay for him.

 

I agree....so what's the plan then? Why the need to free up another $6 mil? This team has earned my trust so i'll reserve final judgement until we see what they do with this savings. Part of me says there must be SOME reason they basically gave away a guy who was still making spectacular plays in the most crucial situations just months ago. Maybe the Ravens are looking at a massive Jake Long type upgrade at Left Tackle. I don't know. My initial reaction though is that this is a stupid move to make because you didn't want to spend an extra $2 mil

[papasmurfbell]

I think the LT pf teh future is coming from the draft.

[dapetes]

garbage players.Ayanbadejo,Cody,Doss,Jah Reid,Dickson,David reed and Ngata's gettin paid to much.And they let Boldin go. OMG

[OutsideRzAcE]

 

When the Ravens released veterans in the past, they usually had a backup plan in place. Who is going to step up to replace Boldin? He wasn't Calvin Johnson or even Stevie Johnson, but Boldin did lead the Ravens in receiving the past four seasons. He has also scored six touchdowns in eight playoff games with the Ravens. Boldin came up big in big games, showing he was just as tough mentally as he was physically.

 

There is a point to the argument that you want to get rid of a player before he hits his decline. The Ravens timed that perfectly when cutting Mason and Heap three years ago. Mason's skills were fading, and Heap couldn't stay on the field. But Boldin, 32, won't diminish as quickly as other receivers because his game isn't built on speed. He doesn't get much separation. He gets his receptions by fighting for the ball better than any other receiver in the league. You know what you're going to get from Boldin: around 60 catches for 850 yards and a handful of touchdowns.

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/66801/ravens-will-regret-trading-anquan-boldin

 

 

Hensley his the nail on the head

[Spen]

I dont like the move, I think they should have looked elsewhere for the cap savings.

 

This is the part of the game, while I understand it, that I don't like. A player has a tremendous offseason helping the team win a championship and they don't want to honor the rest of his contract. I know its the way it is, I just don't like it.

[vmax]

The Ravens can't replace his toughness, his attitude and his agressiveness. He was an offensive leader.

This is a big void to fill. It has impacted and shocked his team mates. They are feeling the loss in a big way right now.

They have to get over this blow and figure out how they can step up and fill this void.

 

The offense as a whole will have to get it's confidence and swagger back with new leaders. They have them in Joe, Rice, Pierce, Yanda, Leach (if he remains), Osemele, Pita and Smith. Jacoby Jones has that swagger too but as a receiver I don't see him filling up much of that void.

[vmax]

Here's another view on the trade...

 

 

...

I said he was old and slow and made too much dough and had to go. That's why he was traded to the 49ers for a sixth-round pick.

The anger that came my way was nasty, and several of my peers jumped into the fray. But guess what? It's what I believe. I think Boldin is the best receiver in NFL history at catching passes when he is not open. His inability to separate because of a lack of speed has forced him to evolve into a receiver who uses his hands and his body to make catches.

He does both of those things well. The problem is this is a league about separation. And when a slow receiver gets slower -- it happens with each year of abuse a player puts on his body -- it becomes a problem.

Boldin had a big postseason for the Ravens, and played a big part in their winning the Super Bowl. But he made some big plays without separation and the tape shows a lot of routes where he got none.

For much of his career, Boldin has caught a ton of passes without getting open. That's what he does. But he's slowing and, despite the postseason success in terms of numbers, he just isn't as good as some think. Don't look back when evaluating, look ahead. The 49ers already have receivers who aren't fast. For a sixth-round pick, it makes sense. But at $6 million, it does not.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/pete-prisco/21854641/petes-pics-anquan-boldins-declining-speed-made-him-expendable

 

All I can say to this is that when the ball was thrown his way...old, slow, seperation or not....50 guys hanging on him...he was the best playmaker at the spot to come down with the ball.

[cravnravn]

Super Bowl champions get off track when they get overly emotional. Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome insisted he wouldn't make the mistake of trying to keep the band all together, like the Ravens did after their first world championship.

 

Boldin's epic playoff run will go down in Ravens history. But he's a player set to turn 33 years old and unlikely to ever play at that insanely high level again. His speed has deteriorated rapidly. More to the point: The Ravens have salary cap issues, and Boldin's allotted money can now be spent on younger players like linebacker Dannell Ellerbe. Or more valuable players like safety Ed Reed.

 

That doesn't mean it's a bad deal for the 49ers. It's a low-risk, one-year gambit. It's a better deal for the Ravens because of what it signifies. The Ravens knew Boldin wasn't part of the team's long-term future and didn't let all that post-Super Bowl bubbly intoxicate them.

 

Newsome knows that popular decisions usually aren't the right ones.

 

http://www.nfl.com/n...evil-for-ravens

 

 

 

The sobering truth...

 

 

It's all about the future and the cap.

 

 

 

Lets get a time out here, we won the SB in 2001, now correct me if Im wrong but the next year we made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs, and if not for an egotistical coach replacing the SB winning qb, we maybe would have repeated..Then we cut anybody and everybody in 2003. Yet, we somehow still managed to go 7-9, Its not like we went 1-15 and were the laughing stock of the NFL. That came in 2004 with the Boller draft, as the better QB, was left to rot on the bench.

 

Wish they would quit using the 2003 purge as an excuse

[colincac]

Boldin was one of the biggest reasons we won the Super Bowl this year but he wasn't worth keeping around at $6 Million in the future and if we hadn't traded him he was getting cut. I would love to go get Greg Jennings or Jake Long personally. I think they need to restructure Ngata and Suggs to lessen their ~$12 Million cap hits... extend their contracts if need be.

[papasmurfbell]

garbage players.Ayanbadejo,Cody,Doss,Jah Reid,Dickson,David reed and Ngata's gettin paid to much.And they let Boldin go. OMG

Brendan is gone. They should have not brought him back. I never liked Cody. He is cheap so he stays another yr. How is Doss making to much with a 4th round contract? Reid looks to be another OL that can't play. Dickson I think is on his last yr here. I just do not grasp why the reuped with David Reed. I was the oone who said Ngata should have been signed earlier to get himn at a better price.

 

The Ravens can't replace his toughness, his attitude and his agressiveness. He was an offensive leader.

This is a big void to fill. It has impacted and shocked his team mates. They are feeling the loss in a big way right now.

They have to get over this blow and figure out how they can step up and fill this void.

 

The offense as a whole will have to get it's confidence and swagger back with new leaders. They have them in Joe, Rice, Pierce, Yanda, Leach (if he remains), Osemele, Pita and Smith. Jacoby Jones has that swagger too but as a receiver I don't see him filling up much of that void.

I think Leach is gone. They are not paying over 4 mil for a guy that saw less than 50% of the plays.

[cravnravn]

 

Boldin was one of the biggest reasons we won the Super Bowl this year but he wasn't worth keeping around at $6 Million in the future and if we hadn't traded him he was getting cut. I would love to go get Greg Jennings or Jake Long personally. I think they need to restructure Ngata and Suggs to lessen their ~$12 Million cap hits... extend their contracts if need be.

 

 

 

Id give winning the SB credit to Jacoby Jones moreso than Boldin, not taking anything from Boldin, but if Jones didnt get behing the DB's ve Denver we wouldnt be here. And didnt Jones score our last TD vs San Fran?

[papasmurfbell]

But Q had to make these huge adjustments to poor throws to bring down passes over and over. That is Q making the team get down the field.

[cravnravn]

OK, so it was a team effort on all parts, Im sure Torrey made some key catches too..But we'll survive

[cravnravn]

BOLDIN UNAWARE OF TRADE

As I wrote Monday night, I feel the Ravens will regret trading wide receiver Anquan Boldin to the 49ers. That being said, both sides got what they wanted. The Ravens freed up $5.5 million in much-needed salary-cap room, and they were able to get a sixth-round pick for a player they were already set to release anyway. Boldin, who didn't want to take a pay cut, will receive his full salary this year ($6 million) from the 49ers and goes to a team that will challenge for the Super Bowl in 2013. BoldinBut Boldin was among the last to know about the trade. I actually found out as I got off the plane last night," said Boldin, who was flying to Africa as part of the NFL players' charity trip to Africa. "Finally arriving here in Senegal, you know, there was a bunch of text messages coming through, saying, you know, Congratulations on getting traded to San Francisco. Things like that, so I found out I guess through text messages. Here is the rest of the transcript from Boldin's interview with ESPN producer Ashly Robinson:

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/66845/anquan-boldin-was-last-to-know-about-the-trade

[papasmurfbell]

Yeah Torrey made some crazy catches to save poorly thrown balls also. That is why I have said Joe is not worth that monster deal. HE was a major cog but was not the guy they had to jump on the back of to win. Brees puts the ball right in the hands so the WR doesn't have to adjust.

[papasmurfbell]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/11/profootballtalk-why-boldin-was-traded-to-sf/

Good vid on how the trade went down.

[colincac]

 

Boldin to San Francisco

The outrage over Baltimore's decision to ship Anquan Boldin to the 49ers for a mere sixth-round pick is marked by an impressive number of logical fallacies and gaps. It's easy to see why the deal makes sense for the 49ers, who had more picks than anybody else in the draft and a hole at wideout across from Michael Crabtree on a team that is expected to be a Super Bowl contender next year. If you put the deal in context from Ozzie Newsome's perspective, it makes a lot more sense for the Ravens, too.

It's easy to express disbelief at the idea that the Ravens would deal away a postseason hero just months after he led the team to the Super Bowl. Boldin had one of the great postseasons in league history, but here's one of those fallacies: You pay a guy for what he's going to do, not what he's done. There's no guarantee that you get the Boldin from that four-game stretch for 16 games next year, and the preponderance of evidence — Boldin's 45-game run as a Ravens receiver during the regular season — suggests that Boldin wouldn't have been a superstar if Baltimore had brought him back. Boldin has averaged a 62-882-5 line over his three seasons in purple, which is decent, but it roughly compares to the work done by, say, Tampa Bay's Mike Williams (64-910-7) over that same time frame. Boldin's a great blocker, more valuable on third down, and a team leader, but the difference isn't worth the millions of extra dollars Boldin would make in a new contract or even by remaining in his old deal for one year.

The decision to deal Boldin also illuminates the importance of considering opportunity cost when evaluating player decisions. Those saying that the Ravens could have held on to Boldin for one more year at $6 million without giving him an extension have a very strong case, but the opportunity cost for that deal is not insignificant. The cap-strapped Ravens are bleeding free agents this offseason, and while they've locked up Joe Flacco and seemingly let Ed Reed go, retaining Boldin would have cost them a chance at re-signing somebody like middle linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, who is younger than Boldin and plays a position at which the post–Ray Lewis Ravens are desperate for some stability. The Ravens didn't try to renegotiate Boldin's deal or trade him because they were cheap; they did so because they were trying to retain the likes of Ellerbe as core pieces of the next great Ravens team.

I also can't help but think that part of the backlash for the deal comes from people upset that the Ravens "only" got a sixth-round pick from the 49ers for Boldin. I ask you this: Once Baltimore decided that they were getting Boldin's salary off the roster, would they have been better off cutting Boldin as opposed to acquiring a low draft pick for his rights? They wouldn't have taken the same level of flak because it would be clear that the Ravens were cutting Boldin to free up space as opposed to potentially implying that Baltimore only values Boldin's level of play as being worth a sixth-round pick, which obviously isn't true. A sixth-round pick isn't much, but it is unquestionably better than no compensation whatsoever.

Most significantly, a Ravens trade allowed the organization to dictate where Boldin would play in 2013, which is valuable for a team that still expects to compete in a crowded AFC. Had they let Boldin hit the free market, he could have chosen to sign with an AFC North team and played the Ravens twice this year. He could have joined the Broncos or Texans, both of which have tilts scheduled against the Ravens in 2013. Instead, Baltimore sent him to the other conference and to an organization that they won't play this upcoming season.

And as for that price, well, all it takes a simple game of elimination to remove the vast majority of the league's teams and reveal just how small the potential trade market for Boldin would have been from Baltimore's perspective. It's safe to assume that the Ravens wouldn't want to deal Boldin to a team they had on the schedule during 2013, so it's right to rule out the AFC East, NFC North, the other teams in the AFC North, and the Broncos and Texans. That's half the league right there. Most of the remaining teams are either bad enough that Boldin would probably retire before going there (Jaguars, Raiders, Rams, Titans), capped out with massive holes elsewhere on the roster (Chargers, Redskins, Panthers), or already set at wide receiver (Cardinals, Cowboys, Eagles, Falcons, Giants, Saints). The Colts have a similar, arguably better player already on the roster in Reggie Wayne. The Buccaneers just signed Vincent Jackson to a mammoth deal, and the Chiefs did the same with Dwayne Bowe. That leaves two teams: the 49ers and the Seahawks, one of whom had just spent a first-round pick to acquire a wide receiver hours earlier. Where was the market for Boldin supposed to come from? San Francisco might have been Baltimore's only palatable trade option for Boldin, and it's likely that their sixth-round pick was the best offer available.

Another great read from Grantland. http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/53824/boldin-and-harvin-sent-packing-as-the-nfl-offseason-gets-busy

 

I agree Crav, it wasn't only Boldin, all the WR's made huge plays and really saved Joe's ass. He has no business earning what he's about to earn. The only thing keeping me from complaing about Joe's contract over and over is the hope he is about to reach his peak playing years and the fact that the cap hit the first 3 years is low.