mgridda

I love Anquan Boldin, though. I really do. He was a Raven back in 2003 and played like a Raven, just the Cards drafted him before we could. imo, Anquan Boldin is a Raven with another jersey on. There are a few players like this in the NFL, who play like a Raven: but unfortunately play for another team. I'd honestly like to see Anquan come back if lets say he has a down year in San Francisco in 2013 and they don't want to re-sign him, or if they don't immediately give him an extension in SF. I don't wish him an injury or anything to hamper his year, but let's just say his QB could very well have a "Sophomore slump" and that defenses across the league will gameplan (and personnel departments will try to get guys who can hold the edge and faster interior players) against the read-option in the NFL. I'm surprised Tim Tebow isn't big. I'm sad Anquan Boldin found out through the news about the trade as he got off the plane in Senegal, and not from a phone call from Ozzie Newsome. John tried to get something done. Both the coaches and Anquan wanted Anquan on the team, clearly. But this decision came from the Wizard himself. Boldin felt the "2 million dollar paycut was unfair." He also wasn't going to be reconstructed/extended in the contract, but just asked to take the 2 million dollar paycut for 2013 and end his contract right then and there. Maybe we can blame Dick Cass and resign Anquan for 2014

All I have to say about the Anquan Boldin ultimatum and subsequent trade is: it was a necessary evil. A very painful one, but all I have to say is in this article: "Yesterday, Anquan Boldin was traded to the San Francisco 49ers for a sixth-round pick. The move will save Baltimore a precious $6 million in cap space. The Ravens are now $13,211,234 below the 2013 salary cap ($123 million). That move allowed the Ravens to offer tenders to three key players with money to spare. Arthur Jones (second-round tender), Dennis Pitta (second-round tender) and Ed Dickson (original-round tender). With second-round tenders costing $2.02 million and original-round tenders costing $1.33 million, the Ravens will have retained three players for $5.37 million—$630,000 less than it would've cost to just keep Boldin." -- Basically, Boldin = Pitta + Arthur Jones + Dickson + David Reed. Yeah, I'd go with the youth movement.

Here's what I hope happens: We don't sign anyone to "replace" Boldin. Whoever we sign would be just as expensive. You know who isn't expensive? Rookies, on rookie contracts. Guys like Doss, LaQuan Williams and David Reed. But, this also means that if Travon Austin falls to #32... we're going to draft Travon Austin.

I wonder if Joe Flacco regrets telling Anquan Boldin to stand his ground now. It's not a laughing matter, but I laugh at that thought. Joe right now must be like, "[profanity deleted]." and might want to hook up with those young receivers: Tandon Doss, David Reed, Tommy Streeter.

So, we just traded a damn good receiver to our new rival for the decade. I didn't think weeks ago that this would be the last time we'd see the 49ers in a Superbowl. The Falcons, Packers and 49ers would take over the NFC's best after Brees gets too old and Eli's giants are a mess. I have no idea what to do other than run around like a chicken with my head cut off. I guess this means we get to resign: Ellerbe, Reed, Dickson and Pitta? Next man up, Tandon Doss. You were supposed to be Anquan Boldin's replacement.

What this is really about, and the fans who also watched every game and poured over every off-season news report back in the late 90s and especially the 00-01 offseason will get it, is not mortgaging the future for the present. Anquan Boldin is our present. Presently, he's a fantastic wide receiver, worthy of all praise he's gotten and a complete leader. However, in Baltimore we believe in "next man up." This means Tandon Doss. it means LaQuan Williams. it means David Reed. One of these three guys will earn the starting spot next to Torrey Smith. i hate to see Anquan go as much as the next guy, which is why i hope he takes his paycut. Currently, he's the 2nd most expensive man on our roster behind our only proven pass-rusher: Terrell Suggs. We have 0 leverage with Suggs in a year where we released Kindle and probably can't retain the services of Kruger (nor would we want to at his asking price). At least we know Torrey Smith can come in and be a #1 receiver (meaning he can run all the routes and catch all the balls all over the field and take over games and line up against the other team's #1 CB and still make plays). Ozzie is a smart guy. The same thing he told Joe (that he'd look at his complete body of work, meaning the regular season too not just that fantastic post-season) applies to Q. Anquan's regular season statistics: 15 games | 65 rec | 921 yards | 4 touchdowns He should take a paycut. And for no lie of omission's sake, his post-season numbers: 4 games | 22 rec | 380 yards | 4 touchdowns This whole team turned it on during the post-season, and thus we won the Superbowl. A similar thing happened in 2000. We kept Burnett, Adams, Siragusa and McCrary. The only turn-over in the defense involved Kim Herring, who was replaced by Corey Harris at SS. We kept guys like Shannon Sharpe and Rod Woodson. The year after that, everyone of those names above walked. in 2002 we were awful and 7-9, and the only starters from 00 by 2002 were: Ray Lewis Chris McAlister Peter Boulware the other 8 guys went elsewhere or retired. On offense the only same starters (as if it mattered) were: Jamal Lewis Ogden Flynn Travis Taylor We can't have that kind of 2-year turnover. Right now, we'd be looking at losing 4 (Cary, Q, Kruger) starters from 2012 to 2013 if Anquan doesn't take his paycut and leaves. And then by 2014, instead of losing a whole host of starters we'll get to keep the young core as opposed to keeping veterans like we did in the 00-01 offseason.