Ravens trade WR Anquan Boldin to the Niners

[supafly]

they really had no choice. Some teams manage their rosters in boom bust cycles. See - Jest, while others rarely if ever mortgage the future to get a good two three year window (Patriots).

The Ravens are nowhere near the Jest, but that roster's time was up.

Not to be overly argumentative, but I think the front office of the Ravens is much, much closer to that of the Pats than that of the Jets.

They certainly haven't operated in a boom/bust cycle, nor are they now.

They were playing hardball with Boldin. It was widely publicized etc, and they weren't budging. It may be as simple as they didn't appear to think that his value was equating to his salary. After all, they certainly could have figured out how to pay an extra 2 million dollars.

I think they realize that Kruger isn't nearly worth what his value on the open market will bring, and that they are much more interested in keeping Ellerbe while not sacrificing for the future by restructuring contracts too much.

This talk of how they were having cap problems was started in the media and predicated on the fact that the Ravens wouldn't have time to sign Flacco to a long term deal, so they'd be forced to pay him the 20 million dollar exclusive franchise tag. That didn't happen, and Flacco's cap hit is 6.7 million dollars this year instead. Their situation with the cap this year isn't much different than ours, besides the fact that we have a much higher number of free agents.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Road to and thru the Super Bowl goes through CB acquisitions this off season via draft/ FA / trades.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

frees up 6 mill for ravens...plan on bringing reed back?

 

[Patsrock]

frees up 6 mill for ravens...plan on bringing reed back?

I wonder how fast Boldin can get to SF to pass the physical. Deal is not official till he does. So that could be a problem for the Ravens and his 6M is not off th cap till he does pass.

 

[Rob0729]

frees up 6 mill for ravens...plan on bringing reed back?

They would stupid to spend the money on Reed when they are about to lose Elerbee and Kruger. I am assuming that cap space will go to one of them, not Reed.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

They would stupid to spend the money on Reed when they are about to lose Elerbee and Kruger. I am assuming that cap space will go to one of them, not Reed.

All signs and talk is they expect kruger to walk

 

[supafly]

They would stupid to spend the money on Reed when they are about to lose Elerbee and Kruger. I am assuming that cap space will go to one of them, not Reed.

I'm assuming Ellerbe.

I think they realize that Kruger has had a very mediocre 80% of his career and it'd be stupid to offer him what he'll get on the open market. He showcased himself at the right time last year.

I recently read FootballOutsiders analysis of one of our games vs BAL last year, where they made Kruger look like Tully Banta-Cain in their film breakdown. I think everyone sees it as some enormous loss for them, but common sense would point to them realizing that he'll be overpaid.

 

[supafly]

I wonder how fast Boldin can get to SF to pass the physical. Deal is not official till he does. So that could be a problem for the Ravens and his 6M is not off th cap till he does pass.

According to one of their top cap analyst sites, they are presently around 11 million under before the Boldin move. After the Boldin move clears, that number obviously jumps up to 17 million again.

After rookie cap and some RFA tendering, they are expected to be around 3-4-5 million under (after the Boldin move the number will jump up to 9-10-11 million under), although they are still exploring making an additional restructure to any of Yanda, Suggs, or Ngata which would free up more money.

They weren't expecting to make any bold FA moves this year, but were more committed to retaining one or more of Ellerbe, Reed, and McKinnie, so they should still have the cap space to do at least one of those deals. I'm expecting them to try and lock up Ellerbe first, and then possibly have an arrangement with Reed once the Boldin move clears.

 

[Deus Irae]

Interestingly, IMO, in terms of ramifications for the Ravens working free agency:

Anquan Boldin is in Senegal for relief effort, so he's unavailable for next three days for physical to consummate trade and make it official

https://twitter.com/RavensInsider/statuses/311228899621228544

 

[supafly]

Interestingly, IMO, in terms of ramifications for the Ravens working free agency:



https://twitter.com/RavensInsider/statuses/311228899621228544

True, but I'm wondering if they wouldn't be able to strike a deal with Reed, assuming they still want him of course, by having a deal in place that could wait until Thursday? He would seem like the kind of veteran guy that wouldn't have any problem doing that in order to remain with the team.

In the meantime, they should have enough room to try and strike something with Ellerbe or McKinnie, and that's assuming they don't make the additional restructure to any of the rumored candidates of Yanda, Suggs, or Ngata. How successful they'll be in striking that deal remains to be seen of course, as they are surely in danger of losing their free agents like anyone else.

 

[supafly]

True, but I'm wondering if they wouldn't be able to strike a deal with Reed, assuming they still want him of course, by having a deal in place that could wait until Thursday? He would seem like the kind of veteran guy that wouldn't have any problem doing that in order to remain with the team.

A PFT report provides some speculation from a league source that SF is now interested in Ed Reed too. Obviously take it with a grain of salt, but it should be noted that after not having an agent and being unable to participate in any of the early negotiation process, Reed went out and hired an agent today to apparently do so.

Maybe he realizes that his time with BAL is over, and that's also why he may have hired the agent?

Ed Reed hires agent, could be headed to 49ers | ProFootballTalk

 

[ausbacker]

Not to be overly argumentative, but I think the front office of the Ravens is much, much closer to that of the Pats than that of the Jets.

They certainly haven't operated in a boom/bust cycle, nor are they now.

They were playing hardball with Boldin. It was widely publicized etc, and they weren't budging. It may be as simple as they didn't appear to think that his value was equating to his salary. After all, they certainly could have figured out how to pay an extra 2 million dollars.

I think they realize that Kruger isn't nearly worth what his value on the open market will bring, and that they are much more interested in keeping Ellerbe while not sacrificing for the future by restructuring contracts too much.

This talk of how they were having cap problems was started in the media and predicated on the fact that the Ravens wouldn't have time to sign Flacco to a long term deal, so they'd be forced to pay him the 20 million dollar exclusive franchise tag. That didn't happen, and Flacco's cap hit is 6.7 million dollars this year instead. Their situation with the cap this year isn't much different than ours, besides the fact that we have a much higher number of free agents.

Ozzie Newsome learnt to ply his trade under some guy who wears a hoodie I believe.

Good on the 49ers trying to improve their team. Boldin will be a helluva 3rd or 4th receiving option. Still, it depends how much you trust Kaepernick.

 

[Fencer]

The 9ers will probably and rightly be pre-season Super Bowl favorites, as they add net talent in the offseason while Baltimore goes downhill.

Umm -- so what?

 

[s3antana5757]

This is a little brother helping out brother move. They cut him or get a pick(pretty useless), and send him to the other conference where my brother happens to coach. Good move for San Fran who should be very, very good this year.

 

[DaBruinz]

I wonder if Boldin was already on the plane to Africa when the trade was announced... What a kick in the pants that would be..

 

[supafly]

I wonder if Boldin was already on the plane to Africa when the trade was announced... What a kick in the pants that would be..

I think that there were some reports from multiple sources that said the front office of BAL was extremely close to cutting him this past Friday, so much that Boldin had actually written a letter to the fans thanking him for their support etc.

If that's the case then I would assume that he was expecting to go somewhere else anyway, although we can't know for sure if that report is true or not.

Considering that he was digging in and "sticking to his guns" (per Joe Flacco), I'm sure he was at least somewhat mentally prepared to move on somewhere else.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

If you're a Cardinals or Rams fan,you are already waiting for the 2014 season......I feel bad for the fans of those two teams who have no shot of doing much this year unless SF or Sea get hit ultra hard by injuries.

 

[NormZauchin]

Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything. The Pats were a better team this past season than they were in 2011 and they went backwards in terms of the playoffs. As we saw last year when he got injured if Justin Smith gets injured again or hits the age wall, their defense takes a major step back.

Also, Boldin is no guarantee of being a major impact at his age and declining production. A good risk on the 49ers' part, but no guarantee.

Odds are good they will still be a contender, but there is no guarantee.

People also forget that San Francisco was very fortunate in the injury department last season. I think commentators said that their starting offensive line played together the whole year. If the injury bug hits them, they will definitely have a hard time repeating as NFC champs.

One aspect of the Patriots' success that is usually overlooked is BB's abilility of juggle lineups when injuries hit. I can't remember a season in which the Pats sufferred few injuries and I think in one of their Super Bowl seasons, '03 or '04, they actually led the league in the number of games missed by starters.

 

[DaBruinz]

I think that there were some reports from multiple sources that said the front office of BAL was extremely close to cutting him this past Friday, so much that Boldin had actually written a letter to the fans thanking him for their support etc.

If that's the case then I would assume that he was expecting to go somewhere else anyway, although we can't know for sure if that report is true or not.

Considering that he was digging in and "sticking to his guns" (per Joe Flacco), I'm sure he was at least somewhat mentally prepared to move on somewhere else.

It's not a matter of being prepared to move on. It's a matter of being one of the last people to know...

 

[supafly]

If you're a Cardinals or Rams fan,you are already waiting for the 2014 season......I feel bad for the fans of those two teams who have no shot of doing much this year unless SF or Sea get hit ultra hard by injuries.

I hear what you're saying about SF and SEA leading the competition for the NFCW, but believe it or not STL fans are feeling pretty positive about the way Jeff Fisher is turning the team around. I think they actually won 4 games in the division last year and finished with a 7-8-1 record---pretty much .500.

They are also the beneficiaries of the mega trade they made with WAS last offseason to allow them to move up 3 spots in the draft to choose RG3. That entailed 3 first round picks and an additional second round pick.

I'm not saying they'll be making much noise this year, but if the progression continues they could actually see themselves in a wildcard battle, although they're probably still a year or two away from that kind of fight.