Niner Noise
FanSided

Five Available Free Agents Who Could Still Help 49ers

By Jerod Brown

Feb 3, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; General view of the helmets of the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants and the Seattle Seahawks at the NFL Experience at the Moscone Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 3, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; General view of the helmets of the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants and the Seattle Seahawks at the NFL Experience at the Moscone Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 6, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers Anquan Boldin poses with the Walter Payton Man of the Year award at the NFL Honors press room at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 6, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers Anquan Boldin poses with the Walter Payton Man of the Year award at the NFL Honors press room at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Anquan Boldin-Wide Receiver

Anquan Boldin is still available on the free-agent market. The San Francisco 49ers still have a need for proven veteran receivers. Chip Kelly likes big-bodied receivers that block hard in the run game and prefer to beat up defensive backs.

The 49ers should be calling Anquan Boldin at the start of every week to see if he is interested in coming back to San Francisco.

Has Boldin slowed down a little bit? Absolutely. And he has made it clear he wants to play for a contender in 2016. The 49ers probably aren’t that team.

However, this is a business, and Anquan Boldin should also be looking to get the largest contract he can before he retires. The 49ers are the team in a position to give Boldin what he wants. With plenty of cap space, they could–and probably should–offer Boldin somewhere around $5M a year to give it one more shot with the team.

I wrote about Boldin and his value to the 49ers just before the official start to free agency. If you’re interested in revisiting how he might fit with this team and what the 49ers would need to do to convince him to come back, check it out here.

San Francisco general manager Trent Baalke has suggested that the team is open to bringing Boldin back but won’t pursue him with much intensity until after the 2016 NFL Draft. Unfortunately, it may be too late by then.

Boldin’s stats from last year make him more than valuable as an option in head coach Chip Kelly’s offense. Boldin tallied 69 receptions for 789 yards and four touchdowns in 2015. That was in one of the worst offenses we’ve in San Francisco in awhile.

Kelly has specifically said that he seeks out big receivers to put in the slot and dominate smaller defensive backs. Boldin is a savvy veteran that would have no trouble doing that. In Kelly’s offense, it is reasonable to believe that Boldin could have nearly 1,000 receiving yards and closer to 80 receptions.

In addition to his value on the field, Boldin would stick around for another year to train some of these young guys and prepare them for when he is gone. Trent Baalke should be checking in with Boldin every week.

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