Fantasy Football

So now that the Super Bowl and we stare down a dreadful eight months before the next regular season NFL game, we can finally get to the business of dismantling the two teams who reached the promise land. Historically, the Cardinals and the Steelers have been notoriously…thrifty, shall we say.

Well, that’s not entirely fair and I didn’t mean to relate the Steelers history in any way to that of the Cardinals. We’ll say this, the Cardinals have been cheap (though they opened up the wallet recently) and the Steelers have been savvy and efficient.

Pittsburgh has always prioritized the team when it came to bringing in new players, but rarely over-extend themselves financially so as to keep the team young. The first examples of this I can recall are with Kevin Greene and Rod Woodson, who were integral to their Super Bowl run in 1995 but were cut shortly thereafter. It might seem crass and heartless, but the Steelers have been run like a well-oiled machine because they treat their franchise like they should: a business. They’ve only had three coaches in about forty years and for good reason, They’re patient and they hire the right people. Basically, they were the Patriots before the Patriots. They aren’t going to make any errant moves before next season.

Arizona/Phoenix, on the other hand, has rarely been willing to extend a contract acquire a new free agent or take a risk with a high profile trade, mainly because the Bidwell’s have never wanted to spend any money that would put them in the black. They’ve typically drafted with the intention of drawing fans to the stadium but rarely ever to improve the team.

So now, as both teams come out of the jubilation/funk of Super Bowl 43, it’s time to start assessing how they will approach the 2009 season. And right now, the highest touted commodity that appears to be in limbo is Anquan Boldin. And the two teams vying for his wide receiving capabilities appear to be the Eagles and Giants.

Now let me just provide a couple caveats for what I am about to say. 1) This is all speculation, nothing is founded. It wouldn’t be a proper blog if the status of Boldin with the Cardinals wasn’t just some blurb I heard from John Clayton on Mike and Mike yesterday morning and saw in these two posts. And 2) I am well aware that I’ve been harping on the parity of the NFL for the past four months, so I know full well that predicting a Super Bowl team three days after the season ends is generally a losing proposition.

With that said, if the Giants or Eagles do end up with Anquan Boldin, that is going to be Super Bowl team from the NFC in 2010.

Now usually I would expect the Giants to wrap him up and the Eagles to hope to skate by with DeSean Jackson and Kevin Curtis. Actually, the Eagles have better receivers than the Giants now, so they could actually use him more and might be willing to overpay him. But the Eagles have two first round draft picks after trading the rights to Jeff Otah to the Panthers during the 2008 draft. So if the Cardinals are looking to build on 2008’s post-season success and feel like they’re sufficient with Breaston & Fitzgerald, they might try to barter for one or both of those picks.

The Eagles would probably go for the former and not the latter, and while I think they have better receivers than the Giants they are still a long way from an elite receiving corps. Sure, Jackson and Curtis are both playmakers to varying degrees, but I don’t think either one of them is over 6′1. A physical presence like Boldin is just what they need to open up the deep passes for DeSean Jackson, because you can’t exactly be throwing jump balls to someone whose basically the Darren Sproles of wide receivers. I’m not even going to bother making the obvious comparisons to Terrell Owens and that they went to the Super Bowl the one year they had him.

The Giants are just in a world of hurt at receiver and are probably willing to max out a contract for him, but what do they have/are they willing to offer the Cardinals for rights to him? I mean, they could mortgage their defense but that seems unwise since it’s been their catalyst for the past two seasons. They could offer up some running backs as they run three deep at the position (Jacobs/Ward/Bradshaw), but does Arizona really need or want another utility running back to split carries with Hightower and Aarington (I’m assuming James is leaving and that the Giants are not giving up Brandon Jacobs)? Do they really think Derrick Ward is that much better than someone they can pick up in the third round of the 2009 draft? (Note: they did sign Edge to that ridiculous contract so they might, hopefully they’ve been Hightower-ed into thinking straight about the running position) The Giants are not trading Manning or any offensive lineman. That leaves two options: draft picks and future draft picks.

This upcoming draft the Giants do not have much to offer in the way of trade bait. A low first round pick than pretty much the same thing everyone else has, so if they want Boldin and the Arizona plays its cards properly, they might be able to get some 2010 picks out of the situation. Neither has been substantiated so we’re not optimistic this will happen.

But we are confident in the prospects of 2009 for either team should they land a top five receiver in the game (After Moss, Fitzgerald & Andre Johnson). Sure this isn’t full proof, both teams would have to stay healthy (Which has been a tall order for the Eagles for every season since 2002), not to mention Steve Spagnuolo is leaving New York for the higher profile pastures of head coaching in St. Louis. There is also reason to suspect that Boldin might not work out for either franchise. Namely, he doesn’t seem comfortable in cold weather (remember that Eagles game on Thanksgiving? He made Braylon Edwards look like Jerry Rice with all of his dropped passes).

But the Giants should still retain their core defensive unit and are not going to completely abandon a system that has been so immensely successful because they lost a coordinator. And while Boldin might now struggle in colder climates, he will also have a chance to adjust to it (something that isn’t likely to happen with someone who grew up and played college ball in Florida and now plays in a fucking desert with housing) and can still contribute until October and in certain road games.

All I know is that I desperately want to see jim in an Eagles jersey. The fantasy/real impact he would have on everyone if he went to Philly (receivers, running backs and quarterback alike) would be almost invaluable. Though I will admit, it’s difficult to bank so much on the health of such an injury prone back field, but I think Boldin has the talent to make even Kevin Kolb look respectable.