Last week, someone (not sure who) raised the question of whether the Ravens should trade Steve Smith, which prompted the team to say it won’t be happening and the player to say he’d quit before joining a new team. (Now that the Ravens have fallen to 1-6, both sides should reconsider that.)
At the same time someone (not sure who) first suggested that the Ravens should trade Smith, someone else (Peter King) suggested another trade of another receiver: 49ers receiver Anquan Boldin, to the Panthers.
Someone (not sure who) suggested Steve Smith to the Packers not the Panthers, given the ugly way things ended with the Panthers and the fact that the Panthers probably wouldn’t want him back, for reasons unrelated to his ability to make the receiving corps better. Boldin to the Panthers could give quarterback Cam Newton a viable weapon to go along with tight end Greg Olsen, and Boldin’s presence and playoff experience could be very useful if/when (when) that Panthers get to the playoffs.
It’s unclear whether the 49ers would want to trade Boldin or whether Boldin would welcome a trade to a contender, but one impediment would be the $2.7 million cap charge the 49ers would take in 2016 for trading Boldin now. But with the cap going up $10 million per year now, it’s really not that big of a cap consequence for money already paid to Boldin.
While trading Boldin would surrender the three more years that the 49ers have him under contract, he’s 35; it’s unclear how much longer he’ll even play. He’s unlikely to play much longer if he’s stuck with a team that is suddenly non-competitive with no reason to think things will be changing before Boldin calls it quits.
