Recently I posted a few comments on lisa4usc’s blog entitled, “KEYSHAWN JOHNSON RETIRES TODAY.”  I wrote a few comments acknowledging his accomplishments, and stated that he should always be regarded as a very good receiver in the history of the NFL, but probably not Hall of Fame worthy, however if he did get in I would not be upset about it.  That’s when I saw a few comments from fox blogger Scorpious, who posted comments mentioning Anquan Boldin.  Naturally, being an AZ Cards fan I gave it a look and was pretty fired up (to say the least) about some of his comments.  Here is what Scorpious wrote about Boldin:

 

“Key, overrated? Nah. He was better than Boldin, who most people thought was going to be another Key………….

 

“Nothing is wrong with Boldin. He just hasn't put up numbers anywhere near what people had hoped for. 20 TD's over 4 seasons? C'mon, Moss had 17 in one season. Key averaged 7 a season in his first four. He had more yards, a better average per catch, and fewer fumbles than Boldin. But Boldin is a good receiver, don't get me wrong... he isn't that far behind Johnson's numbers…..”

 

“Boldin has never put up better numbers than Key, why would you take him over someone he's just plain not better than (or hasn't been up to now anyway)?”

 

I responded with this:

 

“Scorpious....let me say a few things about how Boldin has "not produced" according to you:

1. Boldin has broken nearly every rookie receiving record that exists: 217 yards in his first game as   a pro (a record) and went on to 101 receptions (a rookie record also)
2. Boldin has played in the league for four years, he has been to the pro bowl twice. The other two years he didn't go he was injured for part of the season. In 2004 he was the only rookie in the Pro Bowl.
3. Boldin was the fastest player in NFL history to 300 receptions.
4. In 2004 when he missed 2 games due to a knee injury, Boldin still had 1402 yards receiving with 7 TDs
5. In 2006 he had one fumble, but it was not lost
6. He's 26 years old.

If you want to write a guy off after 4 years in the league, 2 pro bowls, multiple records and an intensity that is unmatched by any other receiver in the game go ahead.”

 

Then Scorpious responded with this:

 

“AZ... I never said he wasn't a great player. But Key DID put up better numbers than Boldin over his first four seasons. You can't change history. And Key sustained that level of play for his whole career……….Does Key make the Hall? I doubt it highly. Key was great, but he's no Largent…….. Does Boldin make the Hall? If he continues at this same level, probably not. And as far as fumbles go, in Key's entire career he had 9 fumbles, and lose 8 of them. (None of those were in his first four seasons, either.)”

 

Now I hate to get into p!ssing contests with anyone, I believe everyone is entitled to their opinions, that’s why I love writing and reading blogs here everyday!  But I had to say something here, so let me say why I disagree with Scorpious (the understatement of the year) and tell you all about how Boldin’s first four years stack up, not just against Key but against some other great receivers/Hall of Famers.  So let’s talk about some of Scorpious’ comments:

 

“Nothing is wrong with Boldin. He just hasn't put up numbers anywhere near what people had hoped for”…. Boldin has never put up better numbers than Key, why would you take him over someone he's just plain not better than (or hasn't been up to now anyway)…….. Key had more yards, a better average per catch…….. Boldin isn't that far behind Johnson's numbers…..”

 

Well, here are Keyshawn’s numbers for the first 4 years of his career:

Yards = 4108..…..Receptions = 305…..Yds per catch (avg) = 13.5…..31 TDs…..2 Pro Bowls…..Played in 62 out of possible 64 games……NO NFL RECORDS

 

AND here are Boldin’s for his first 4 years in the league (next year will be his 5th):    Yards = 4605……..Receptions = 342….Yds per catch (avg) = 13.5……20 TDs…..2 Pro Bowls…..Played in 56 out of possible 64 games…….Holds 3 NFL Records

1.      Most Receiving Yds by a rookie (217 yards in his first NFL game)

2.      Most Receptions in a single season by a rookie (101 catches)

3.      Fastest Player in NFL history to reach 300 receptions (took him 47 games)

So let’s go back to what Scorpious is saying, Boldin doesn’t match up?  Well he had 500 more yards, 37 more catches, same average per catch, same # of pro bowls, holds 3 NFL records and played in 6 less games.  Personally, if I was a coach, I would love a guy who puts up these numbers.  Boldin has had 3 seasons of over 1200 yards receiving (1377, 1402 & 1203), Keyshawn has only cracked 1200 yards receiving once in his entire 11 year career – in 2001, his sixth year in the league.  What do you think Boldin would do with if he played four full seasons and had those 8 games to add in to his stats?

If that’s not enough to answer those comments, here’s a fun fact for you:  the only receiver in NFL history to have more yards in his first four seasons is Jerry Rice with 4881 yards, that’s only a difference of 276 yards.  Again, Jerry missed 4 games in his first 4 seasons. Boldin’s first 4 seasons were better than Cris Carter (3506/22 TDs), Michael Irvin (2968/20 TDs) and Lynn Swann (2294 yards/23 TDs) to name a few.  Anquan missed 8 games, hmmmm, again I wonder what would have happened if he was healthy?

As far as TDs go, yes Keyshawn had 11 more touchdowns than Anquan. But in 2004 a guy named Larry Fitzgerald showed up, anybody heard of him?  Since Anquan got injured in his sophomore season, Fitz has become the team’s #1 receiver, with Boldin being the #2.  He’s putting up these numbers as a number 2 receiver!!  He has to share the ball with a great athlete like Fitz, who did Randy Moss or Keyshawn ever have to share the field with during their first four years (If you say Wayne Chrebet and try to compare him to Fitzgerald I’m gonna laugh)?  Keyshawn has been the number one receiver for 7 of his ten years in the league with the teams he played on.

I will give you the fumbles, Boldin has had 7 fumbles and lost 5 to date and Key had none in his first four years.  But is that really gonna give Key the edge in this comparison?  I looked around at some other great receivers: Steve Smith – 18 fumbles in his first 4 seasons; Jerry Rice – 7 fumbles in his first 4; Torry Holt – 9 fumbles in his first 4; Marvin Harrison – 5 fumbles; Sterling Sharpe – 5 fumbles; and the list could go on and on.  Would you say any of these guys aren’t better than Key?  The main reason Boldin has this many fumbles is because of the way he plays, he doesn’t shy away from contact.  He works out of the slot, makes the same catches across the middle and just wants to run through people.  All you need to do is to see his highlights against Carolina or San Francisco, both times he broke through at least 5 tackles en route to touchdowns of over 50 plus yards.  I don’t recall Keyshawn breaking through too many tackles, but I could be wrong.

“Key DID put up better numbers than Boldin over his first four seasons. You can't change history. And Key sustained that level of play for his whole career……….Does Key make the Hall? I doubt it highly. Key was great, but he's no Largent…….. Does Boldin make the Hall? If he continues at this same level, probably not…”

Well we already know Keyshawn didn’t put up better numbers than Boldin over his first four seasons, I don’t need to change anything, look it up.  Boldin has played consistently like an all star the past four years, so let’s answer the question of “if he continues at this pace, will he make the hall?”  Let’s average all of Boldin’s numbers over the last 4 seasons and see what that is – 1151 yds, 5 TDs, 85.5 receptions per year.  Now let’s say he plays at the same level for 8 more years, his totals would be: 13, 417 yds, 60 TDs, and 1026 receptions and a 13.076 yd per catch average.  These would place him in the current top five receivers, make him second in yards and receptions while playing 7 years less than Jerry Rice who played 19 years.  So he doesn’t make the Hall? 

Why don’t we also factor in that Anquan has played with 6 different quarterbacks in 4 years.  Jerry played with Joe, then with Steve during his glory years, hall of famers; Irvin played with Aikman his entire career, another hall of famer.  Boldin has played with guys like Jeff Blake, John Navarre, and Shaun King.  But Keyshawn has only had nine fumbles, right, that counts.

The bottom line here is that Anquan Boldin is a top tier receiver, anyone who doesn’t see that is probably blinded by the fact that he plays for the Arizona Cardinals.  I can’t believe that the same amount of hype surrounded Anquan Boldin as it did Keyshawn Johnson when he was brought into the league, I just can’t.  Boldin ran a 4.8 40-yard time at the combine and was the 54th overall pick in 2003.  Johnson was the #1 overall pick in 1996 and was touted as being the best receiver to come out of college football since Jerry.

Boldin has more than exceeded anyone’s expectations and he will continue to do so. Am I biased...YES, am I wrong....NO.

This was written for a target audience of one: Scorpious.  But if anyone else wants to weigh in that's fine by me if you manage to read all of this. 

Thanks,  AZCardsfan4life