Cardinals Boldin On The Decline?
Sports Illustrated’s Bucky Brooks is making the case that Arizona Cardinals star Anquan Boldin appears to be a player in decline at this point in his NFL career.
In a report that ran recently on SI.com, Brooks points out that Boldin’s yards-per-catch dropped to 11.7 last year and the number of big plays made by Boldin has declined in each of the past three seasons.
Brooks also cites that Boldin’s 10 pass receptions over 20 yards in 2008 were a career low, and that Boldin had only three games with 100+ receiving yards last season.
All of which is true of course.
But do those numbers really mean that Boldin’s game is now in decline?
You have to keep in mind that the decline in Boldin’s numbers has coincided with teammate Larry Fitzgerald’s emergence as the NFL’s best wide receiver, which certainly impacted Boldin’s numbers.
What do you think Cardinals/NFL fans? Is Anquan Boldin now a player in decline?
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This post has 2 comments
April 2nd, 2009 at 7:31 pm
No, I don’t think Anquan is declining at all. He played in 12 games in both the 2007 & 2008 season. In 2007 he had 71 receptions and 9 TD’s, whereas in 2008 he had 89 receptions and 11 TD’s. Sounds like an improvement to me. He was a Pro Bowl starter in 2008, and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2003 and 2006 as well. I don’t see a decline in that pattern, either. The 11 TD’s in 2008 was a career high for him as well. We can trade stats all day long, but it’s clear by everything that is going on in AZ that the Cards, and Boldin, are moving up from where they’ve been, not down.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:59 am
Hi Mike – I agree with you. I haven’t seen any real evidence that Anquan’s game is in decline. That’s why I put the spotlight on the SI.com article – I don’t agree with the writer’s assertion that Boldin is now in decline at all. Thanks for commenting!