who still believes trading boldin was a bad idea?

[JoeyFlex5]

i know this might annoy some people as its still a sensitive topic, but i saw a small remark in a very recent thread mentioning how getting rid of boldin was a foolish move, and i just decided to ask who still believes that it was a bad move? and who has gotten over the emotional ties to him and realizes that it was a business decision that had to be made? 

 

i think my opinion was just made obvious, the guy was simply going to be way overpaid and he would have left our team totally strapped for cash to the point that we may have had multiple special teamers starting full time on each side of the ball. i have no specific names or numbers to prove that theory, but if im not mistaken his cap hit would have been something around 7m in 2013? 

 

canty may not have been a huge impact player, but he allowed for a steady rotation on the d line, without him, arthur jones, ngata, cody, and tyson is essentially our entire d line rotation, jones and ngata get up near 100% of the snaps in a defense that was already worn out in every 4th quarter. 

 

pernell mcphee and courtney upshaw in a year where they both played pretty miserably, are our only options at ROLB. 

 

michael huff was viewed as a very good signing, obviously his play said otherwise. 

 

daryl smith was possibly the best player on our team in 2013. 

 

if we keep boldin, we are lucky to get ONE of these players, not only that, we may have to cut a few players who could develop for the future, for a 1 year plug at WR, boldin would have wanted more than we would have offered him when his contract was up anyway, staying with us in 2013 would have just delayed the inevitable imo. 

 

we all loved the way he played, but have we finally realized that it was a solid business decision that had to be made?

[52520Andrew]

This is before you even mention Doom coming here

[cobrajet]

I am finally mentally healthy now with the trade, but it did take me a full season to recover. I admit that picking up Steve Smith and hearing how great he has been since he got here, has helped with my healing process.

[JoeyFlex5]

This is before you even mention Doom coming here

well the upshaw and mcphee remarks were basically referring to how important a pickup doom was lol.

[JoeyFlex5]

I am finally mentally healthy now with the trade, but it did take me a full season to recover. I admit that picking up Steve Smith and hearing how great he has been since he got here, has helped with my healing process.

yeah the downfalls of the boldin trade are obvious, we were all emotionally atached to him as a fanbase because he had a mean streak and was a beast, but his earnings far outweighed his production. 

 

i was upset that he had to go, but i knew it was coming and i understood and thought it was a smart move at the time, still do. 

 

but when you talk to people about football, ravens fans, fans of other teams, even the football snobs who claim to know everything, just bashed the hell out of our franchise and talked about how stupid the move was, i was shocked by how little people understood his cap hit, and people still talk about the boldin trade as if it was the dumbest move this team has ever made.

[52520Andrew]

well the upshaw and mcphee remarks were basically referring to how important a pickup doom was lol.

 

True lol although we didn't just get anyone to fill the role either lol

[RaineV1]

All things considered, I think it was good for the Ravens to trade him in the long run. They were able to get Doom, Daryl Smith, and Canty with that money. Also, with Boldin, the season would have still stunk.

[Inqui]

It sucked seeing Boldin do so well for the 9ers (probably one of the least deserving fanbases of a talent like him too), but I think it had to happen. Said it at the time, said it during the season and I'm saying it now.

 

Our receivers weren't flash last season (Pitta's injury was unforeseen and Dickson/Clark taking a while to hit their stride didn't help), but the middle of our defence was just dire in the SB run. And imagine how Suggs would have fared if he were the only real outside pass rusher on board. And that's before you argue whether bringing in Huff was a good idea without the benefit of hindsight.

 

What bugged me almost as much was people saying Joe's big contract was to blame (Flacco's cap hit was smaller than Boldin's that season). Is the term "The Great Unwashed" (in a reference to uneducated fans cashing in on any kind of pulpit) used in the US or is that a NZ/more colonial thing?

[TDubbs]

Ozzie would even admit giving away Boldin was not a good move. That guy epitomized what it meant to be a Raven and played with rare toughness for a WR. Getting Doom and Daryl definitely made it an easier pill to swallow though. However, I think without signing Spears, Canty and Huff we could have kept Q, (I could have even said goodbye to Jacoby). Anyways .... That chapter is over and I'm pretty darn stoked with Steve Smith. 

[K-Dog]

I never thought it was a BAD move just very unpleasant.

[The Mom Gene]

It wasn't completely the Ravens that instituted the trade... Boldin and his agent had a HUGE hand in it... and No One actually expected Pitta to go out.  I personally think it's time to get over it....  Move on...  Let it go...  Whatever it takes.... 

[acranfor]

Right move for both sides:

 

Ravens needed to not repeat their mistakes after the first super bowl - They have rebuilt their team (and will continue) and have gotten younger; setting up a new era.

 

Boldin moved onto a team with a shot to give him another super bowl chance.

[Mt. Crushmore]

Why are we still debating this?

[The Mom Gene]

Why are we still debating this?

I know, right?????

[rmw10]

It's all moot anyways since there's a high likelihood that he would have walked in FA this offseason.  We weren't going to pay $6M for an aging receiver that never surpassed 1,000 yards here, especially with all of the other FAs we had to worry about.  The point is that he's gone, he wasn't the difference in us winning a Super Bowl last year or not, and he allowed us to bring in some new players, although some didn't work out.  I said at the time that it happened that it was the right move and I'm sticking by that.  From a personal standpoint, it sucked.  From a business standpoint, the move had to be made.  Too many people made it personal and not business related.

[Ravens1991]

We wouldn't have won a Super Bowl this past year with Boldin. If we win this year with doom smith smith and canty contributing we definetly could have won the trade.

[52520Andrew]

Yeah it wouldn't have mattered had we kept Boldin. Last time I checked, Boldin never played on the O-line. Kubiak is the guy who can hopefully get that fixed

[Willbacker]

If you look just at the trade Boldin for a 6th. Yeah loser trade and if he walked this year we possibly could have got a 4th in comp pick. All around tho we were able to sign other players to fill gaps which we still have going into this year. In hindsight not a bad trade but also not a very good one either. Call it even.

[The Mom Gene]

It's all moot anyways since there's a high likelihood that he would have walked in FA this offseason.  We weren't going to pay $6M for an aging receiver that never surpassed 1,000 yards here, especially with all of the other FAs we had to worry about.  The point is that he's gone, he wasn't the difference in us winning a Super Bowl last year or not, and he allowed us to bring in some new players, although some didn't work out.  I said at the time that it happened that it was the right move and I'm sticking by that.  From a personal standpoint, it sucked.  From a business standpoint, the move had to be made.  Too many people made it personal and not business related.

Absolutely.

[flynismo]

It's only annoying because it's such a simple minded question (not you, just the question / idea in general that it was foolish)

[airconteka1]

I'm fairly sure we used the pick from the trade to trade up to get Arthur Brown so that needs to be factored in when considering if it was good move. If the Brown/Mosley combination turns out the way we hope I'll be pretty good with it.

[SecretAgentMan]

I don't. It had to be done. It's not the reason we had a mediocre season. If we had an oline. We were a playoff team.

It's inconviniet that we didn't have a WR of his caliber, but we did get steve smith to replace him.

And for those who believe "only a sixth rounder". If Ozzie could get any more, he would've. It was a lot better than flat out cutting him. As a matter of fact ANY GM would've taken the higher offer. No GM is that stupid

[Inqui]

I don't. It had to be done. It's not the reason we had a mediocre season. If we had an oline. We were a playoff team.

It's inconviniet that we didn't have a WR of his caliber, but we did get steve smith to replace him.

And for those who believe "only a sixth rounder". If Ozzie could get any more, he would've. It was a lot better than flat out cutting him. As a matter of fact ANY GM would've taken the higher offer. No GM is that stupid

Except for Ozzie.

[SecretAgentMan]

Except for Ozzie.

Oh yeah. He's old and inadequate. It's obvious that us posters of forums on the internet are so much better than he is, and no more than he does.

Give me a break lol

[Guest RBates]

Make no mistake about it.  It still was a terrible trade.  At the time we got Boldin there was speculation that we were going to pursue Steve Smith as well.  Not together, but one or the other.  Anytime you trade away your best receiver with no replacement and a young QB still learning the game it's going to be a bad idea. 

[redrum52]

In hindsight it worked out. I would still prefer Boldin over Smith, but Smith should do fine here. Flacco had finally developed the comfort he needed with him and he had games where he would just dominate. We got help on defense with Doom and found a good replacement in Smith, so everything should work itself out. Boldins run blocking was huge and he just seemed to bring quality that's hard to match. The question is, would we have been able to re-sign him this off-season to a reasonable amount? When you take all that into account, especially since he was cut for cap purposes, yes. At the same time, I always agreed with the move, even though I never liked it.

[jazz1988]

It's all moot anyways since there's a high likelihood that he would have walked in FA this offseason.  We weren't going to pay $6M for an aging receiver that never surpassed 1,000 yards here, especially with all of the other FAs we had to worry about.  The point is that he's gone, he wasn't the difference in us winning a Super Bowl last year or not, and he allowed us to bring in some new players, although some didn't work out.  I said at the time that it happened that it was the right move and I'm sticking by that.  From a personal standpoint, it sucked.  From a business standpoint, the move had to be made.  Too many people made it personal and not business related.

 

I agree but it kinda sucks we spent so much money on Boldin and never  used him consistently to his strength until Jim Caldwell became our offensive coordinator.

[Dr. Kelley]

It was such a good idea, that a year removed from the trade we picked up another possession receiver north of 30

[jazz1988]

Make no mistake about it.  It still was a terrible trade.  At the time we got Boldin there was speculation that we were going to pursue Steve Smith as well.  Not together, but one or the other.  Anytime you trade away your best receiver with no replacement and a young QB still learning the game it's going to be a bad idea. 

 

Boldin was never a good fit for our vertical style offense. He wasn't able to reach 1,000 receiving yards but still was able to stay productive which is amazing to me especially for a guy whom never was fast.Opposing defenses didn't even treat Boldin as our best receiver because most of the time Torrey Smith would have their number one cornerback covering him;They knew Boldin wasn't going to be used correctly any way and Smith speed was more of  a threat especially since we like to  send our receivers deep alot.

 

Overall it didn't make sense to continue paying a receiver whom production was no wear near the level of what he was getting paid.The Ravens try to get Boldin to take a pay cut and he refused which makes sense on him his part but didn't make sense for The Ravens financially.

[Dudeman]

I didn't really like the news at the time, even though I understood why it happened.  They say hindsight is 20/20 but my vision on this subject is still more than a little cloudy.  You can't blame last season solely on missing Boldin, but he was missed in more ways than 5. 

 

Last season was a witches brew of bad scenarios.  Gone to retirement or free agency went Lewis, Reed, Birk, Kruger, and Ellerbe.  Stand up players all, and the big three of Lewis, Reed, and Birk were big time leaders on and off the field.  I think having Boldin last year would have been good for keeping more leadership on offense.  But that is a moot point.

 

More to the point Boldin is a great player, was more than popular here.  You could argue our additions by subtraction, and perhaps an extension for Boldin would've given us some cap relief that year.  But I don't like hearing the justification that he wasn't worth the money based on his regular season production.  Anquan wasn't a flashy numbers guy, but he's a smart player that was tough as nails.  He helped keep the offense on schedule, and it took some time for Flacco and him to develop the connection they had through the stretch run to the super bowl.  I think if we had him last year they would've picked up where they left off but again I digress. 

 

Bottom line is it isn't all bad either.  Outside of Baltimore pundits still call it a bad/questionable move http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000362274/article/ravens-ozzie-newsome-well-be-better-on-offense.  I can understand this line of reasoning.  Yet by not having Boldin we were able to self scout other parts of the offense better like the offensive line, running backs and other younger receivers like Marlon Brown.  Hopefully we can turn the page on the Boldin era, and the offense can soar to new heights and live up to expectations!