One of the key additions the San Francisco 49ers made last season was getting Anquan Boldin, but he had only one year left on his deal. Despite his age, he’s still a very productive wide receiver, and the Niners are hoping they can come to an agreement about a new contract for the 33 year old.
Boldin had his most productive season since his earlier days with the Arizona Cardinals, being a lot more than a possession type receiver, the part he played on the Ravens’ Super Bowl run. He caught 85 passes for 1179 yards and 7 touchdowns, his best numbers since 2008.
Boldin was targeted a lot more than the Niners intended because of the Crabtree injury, but that is turning away from the issue: The 49ers wouldn’t have been so successful and probably wouldn’t have made the Conference championship game if it wasn’t for Boldin’s ability to bail out Colin Kaepernick time after time.
Boldin played on a one-year, $6 million deal which was too rich for the Ravens to follow through so they traded him, knowing that keeping such an expensive receiver on a team that won’t defend their Super Bowl title is a bit too much. The 49ers don’t have the cap space or the priority to make a big splash in free agency on a top receiver, so keeping Boldin is probably one of their top 3 priorities along with new contracts to coach Harbaugh and Kaepernick.
So what will keep Boldin with the team? He’s not going to get $6 million from anyone, but if the 49ers offer him a two-year deal for around $8 million (Boldin is hoping for the 2-year, $12 million Welker got from the Broncos) he’ll probably be more than happy to remain in San Francisco and play for a legitimate Super Bowl contender instead of beginning to ponder who is good enough to go that far from the teams looking into him.