What Happened to the Ravens?

Tyipcally, when you win the Super Bowl it means you've done something right and you've got something special. Most teams in that situation try to keep the team together as much as possible and attempt to repeat the following season. On a 53 man roster there are bound to be some moves and retirees, but you try to keep the core group together. Usually the players also like to stick around as winning championships is an enjoyable experience. Since the Super Bowl the Ravens have lost a Hall of Fame linebacker to retirement (Ray Lewis), traded their leading receiver in catches and yards for a sixth round pick (Anquan Boldin), released their leading tackler (Bernard Pollard), Lost a Hall of Fame safety and both of their interception leaders to free agency (Ed Reed and Cary Williams each had 4), lost their sack leader to free agency (Paul Kruger) and another effective linebacker (Dannell Ellerbe). To replace this production the Ravens have added DL Marcus Spears and DE Chris Canty.

I have never seen a championship team dismantled so quickly. We knew Ray Lewis was gone and there were going to be some salary cap casualties, but I didn't expect this mass exodus so recently after winning a Super Bowl. I can't see how they're going to replace all that talent with what's left of free agency and the draft and be a contender next year. It sounds weird to say it, but with all the talent that Pittsburgh and Baltimore have lost recently I like the Bengals to win the AFC North next season.

Boldin Traded To 49ers

The funny thing about Boldin going to the 49ers is how often do you see an impact player from a team that beat another in the Superbowl get traded to each other.... never. I absolutely love this deal for the 49ers, you take Randy Moss' corpse out and replace it with Anquan Boldin, while only sacrificing a 6th round pick, you do it every time. To be honest, I much rather have Boldin then Percy Harvin any day.

Speaking of which, am I the only one that thinks Percy Harvin sucks? He is a gimmick player and a player like him is a dime a dozen, instead of giving up all that for him why not 1. Draft Tavon Austin from WV, or sign a number of guys like Reggie Bush, Mike Wallace or just anyone fast. That was a gross overpay by the Seahawks.

But back to Boldin, the reason he didn't go to the Patriots isn't the fact he carries a 6 million cap it, there is just no way the Ravens would trade him to a team they meet in the AFC Championship game every year and the Patriots actually lack picks as they only have a 1,2,3,7,7 picks for him. Plus I'm not sure if Bill Belichick calls him by his first name, the ultimate deciding factor of whether players are allowed to join the organization.

Boldin will thrive in SF where he will almost be asked to do the same thing as he did for Flacco and catch deep balls that Kaepernick heaves. Great move.

Anquan Boldin Traded to the 49ers for a Sixth Round Pick

The Baltimore Ravens agreed to trade receiver Anquan Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers, the team they beat last month in the Super Bowl, sources confirmed to ESPN.

Boldin, who is in Africa on a mission, needs to pass a physical before the trade with San Francisco becomes complete.

There were two big moves yesterday involving some high profile wide receivers heading to playoff contending teams. Percy Harvin is headed to Seattle for a first round pick in the upcoming draft in exchange for one year of his services. Anquan Boldin is headed to his recently vanquished Super Bowl opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, in exchange for a sixth round pick in the upcoming draft.

At a glance this deal makes little sense compared to the Harvin/Seahawks deal. Boldin is coming off of a productive season and a Super Bowl win. Harvin is coming off of a season shortened by injury and some controversial conflicts with his head coach. They both have one year remaining on their existing contracts. It feels like Harvin should have been the player on fire sale and Boldin should be the valuable, reliable veteran. Why does Harvin net the Vikings a 1st rounder and Boldin is only worth a sixth round pick? To get the answer you have to go a little deeper.

The most obvious answer is age. Boldin is still a productive NFL wide receiver, but he's currently 32 and has 10 NFL seasons under his belt. That's a lot of mileage for an wide receiver, where losing a step physically can be amplified significantly on the field. By comparison, Harvin is only 24 and has just 4 NFL seasons under his belt. There's no reason to believe he won't go forward and have many productive years ahead of him. Continuing with this point, the trade with the Seahawks is contingent upon Harvin agreeing to a new contract that is expected to be finalized soon. It's highly likely that this new deal will have Harvin spending his upcoming prime years in Seattle. Boldin's deal feels much more like a 1-year "put us over the top" rental.

Secondly, there's the NFL's salary cap to consider. Boldin is due $6 Million and carries a cap figure of $7.531 Million. This is a pretty significant hit, especially given that the salary cap hasn't increased and many teams are struggling to stay under the cap. I'm having some difficulty finding the exact cap figure that Harvin is making for the last season of this deal, but he's in the final year of his 5-year $14.5 Million rookie contract. We'll have to see the final figures of his new contract with Seattle before we can determine exactly how much of a hit Seattle will take for Harvin, but it will probably be significantly lower than the cap hit the 49ers are absorbing with Boldin.

Even with all of these factors considered I still feel like the Seahawks overpaid for Harvin and the Ravens didn't get enough value for Anquan Boldin, but the disparity isn't quite as bad as it might seem.