The Baltimore Ravens made a very surprising move yesterday in trading stud receiver Anquan Boldin to the San Fransisco 49ers in exchange for a 6th round draft pick. A 10-year veteran, Boldin led Baltimore with 65 catches for 921 yards and four touchdowns in 2012. He was sensational in the postseason, totaling 16 receptions for 276 yards and three scores. Boldin spent the first seven seasons of his NFL career with Arizona, which lost the 2009 Super Bowl to Pittsburgh. In that game, Boldin caught eight passes for 84 yards.
Last season Baltimore had the 15th best passing team in the NFL averaging 233.7 yards per game through the air. Now with Boldin taken out of the mix, the top pass catches in Baltimore will be Ray Rice Dennis Pita and Torrey Smith. Nobody is really quite sure why the Ravens decided to move Boldin, who was by far the club's #1 receiver. It leaves Ravens QB Joe Flacco with a few less targets to throw to next season, so it will be interesting to see how the Ravens turn this around without Boldin in the lineup.
What hurts the Ravens will now seriously help the 49ers. Last year San Fran had the 23rd best passing offense in the league, averaging 206.1 yards per game through the air. San Fran's leading receiver from a year ago was Michael Crabtree, who had 85 catches for 1105 yards and 9 touchdowns. Vernon Davis was the 49ers other big time threat at the receiver position with over 500 yards receiving a year ago. Now with Boldin thrown into the mix, the 49ers have a great one-two punch with Boldin and Crabtree. This is a similar situation for Boldin, who was part of another great one-two punch with Larry Fitzgerald in Arizona when he played for the Cardinals.
So now with Boldin going to the 49ers and Percy Harvin headed for the Seattle Seahawks in the other trade yesterday, the NFC West just got a lot tougher to play in.St. Louis and Arizona are going to have an uphill climb in the division with the improvements made by Seattle and San Fransisco already. And if this is all done before free agency has even fully kicked off, things are going to be real interesting as the summer moves along.
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