Faceoff - WR Anquan Boldin, Arizona Cardinals

Posted 6/23, exclusive to Footballguys.com

Upside - by Andy Hicks

In an era where Wide Receivers frequently arrive and disappear from the top of fantasy radars, Anquan Boldin has been a regular inside the Top 20 fantasy WRs in four of the last five years (two years inside the top 10 as well). Only six other guys can claim this statistic (Randy Moss, Torry Holt, Chad Johnson, Marvin Harrison, Terrell Owens, and Steve Smith). This is despite the presence of Larry Fitzgerald, a running game that has been far from effective, a carousel of quarterbacks and his own injury problems.

To be able to snap him up as your WR2 is value personified. When Boldin is on the park he is one of the most targeted receivers in the league. He averages over six receptions for more than 80 yards a game throughout his career and produces consistent levels of touchdown production. Adding to this is his fearless play and high work rate. No taking plays off for this guy. He's certain to be heavily targeted; he'll be consistent and will put up numerous monster games. To date he's put up nine 10+ reception games, five multiple-touchdown games, including three games with doubles last season, and he's had five games with over 150 receiving yards.

Some will be concerned about his contract dispute and threat to hold out. Don't be, Boldin is a gamer and is highly likely to suit up for the first game of the season, even should he miss part or all of training camp. Another concern is his tendency to miss games through injury. This is not unusual for the elite WRs, with only Chad Johnson playing every game from the seven consistent fantasy producers of the last five years (listed earlier). When Boldin plays, he produces.

Concerned about the quarterback situation? No need to be. Boldin has flourished under both Kurt Warner and Matt Leinart. If Leinart continues to struggle, then Warner will be in like a shot. The running game is unlikely to make significant improvement, as the offensive line is much better at pass blocking and the running game relies on an aging Edgerrin James.

When you add it all up Anquan Boldin is one of the safer options available to think about in the fourth round of your draft. The guys you'll be considering him against are one season wonder WRs like Brandon Marshall and Wes Welker and running-back-by-committee guys. If you like to play it safe, Boldin is the easy choice here.

Downside - by Mark Wimer

Anquan Boldin is envious of Larry Fitzgerald's gigantic contract extension, signed this March, and it is easy to see why. Boldin has been a strong contributor to the Cardinal's offense over the years, but he isn't as richly rewarded for his efforts. In fact, Boldin is in the middle of a contract extension and still has 3 more years on the deal he agreed to, so his negotiating position isn't the strongest, especially considering the $15,000-a-day fines teams can levy for missing training camp. The envy problem leaves us fantasy owners who are considering Boldin for our teams in a tough place, though - how long will his holdout linger ? As of June 15th he's threatening not to show up for the start of training camp after skipping all 4 weeks of the team's "voluntary" OTAs, though he did attend the mandatory minicamp. Another concern regarding Boldin is the toe injury that he suffered at the end of last season - reportedly, rest has helped heal the hurt and Boldin avoided surgery, but with no work in voluntary OTAs we haven't really seen if his foot will hold up to the pounding of day in, day out practicing. Even if Boldin does show up and does stay healthy, will he be motivated to play at 100% if the renegotiations fail to gather steam?

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about Boldin entering the 2008 season, as you can see. Fitzgerald is the team's well-paid mega-star, and you can be sure they will get him the ball a ton (last year, Fitzgerald was targetted 167 times for 100/1409/10 receiving - he's a monster in the red-zone). Boldin will be second-fiddle, and Matt Leinart, thanks to his collarbone injury last year, is still learning on the job in his 3rd NFL season, having just 17 starts so far in his career (roughly 1 year of real-game NFL experience). Since Leinart has been working with Fitzgerald while Boldin skipped workouts, he'll have a larger degree of comfort and confidence built up with Fitzgerald - habits established during the off- and preseason will tend to linger into regular season, further impacting Boldin's chances for a top-flight season this year.

Boldin is a top flight talent, and would be the #1 WR on a lot of teams - but he's not the #1 WR on the Cardinals, he's not going anywhere this year except on the field with the Cardinals, and he's not going to be a top-12 fantasy WR this year given his situation and role on the team. That's just the way the cookie crumbles for this player - if his holdout does stretch into training camp, his downside becomes even worse than it is currently. There are a number of other players with fantasy WR2 potential this year that I'd rather roll with on my roster than Anquan Boldin - I won't be targetting him in my fantasy drafts this year.