Forget Victor Cruz, Anquan Boldin is the answer for the Jaguars

Myles Stedman

May 29, 2017 at 12:19 p.m.

Just last week, former New York Giants star Victor Cruz signed with the Chicago Bears, after visiting the Jacksonville Jaguars the week prior. The meeting in Jacksonville clearly did not work out, for one reason or another, but the team is clearly looking for a veteran to fill out that third or fourth receiver slot on their roster. Although Cruz is a former Tom Coughlin man, the Jags were looking in the wrong place anyway. They should be looking at 36-year-old wide out Anquan Boldin.

I know you may be thinking that this is odd logic. Boldin is a full six years older than Cruz, much closer to retirement and averaged similar numbers last season. Last year, Cruz had 39 receptions for 586 yards, for 15 yards per reception. Boldin caught 67 balls for 584 yards, for 8.7 yards per reception. Both played third fiddle in their teams’ receiving corps.

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In fact, Cruzs’ superior yards per reception should lock away the case for the six year pro as the last wide receiver on Jacksonvilles’ roster, right? Not necessarily. Let’s look closer at Cruzs’ statistics. After his two one-thousand yard seasons to kick off his career, the former Massachusetts Minuteman has steadily declined.

In 2013, he caught for 998 yards, still a strong total, but in 2014, when he played only 6 games, Cruz caught only 337 yards. His yards per game fell of a cliff also, going from 71.3 to 56.2. In 2015, he missed the entire season due to injury, and in 2016, he recorded the totals mentioned above, going at 39.1 yards per game which was his lowest so far in his six seasons.

Meanwhile, Anquan Boldin has been incredibly durable, playing 14 professional seasons, playing 10 games once, 12 games 12 games twice, 14 games three times, 15 games twice and 16 games six times. Those are incredible numbers, and they can not only attributed to Boldins’ toughness, but also his rock solid skill set, that has been unwavering over his time as an NFL receiver.

Boldins’ hands are far superior to Cruzs’. Last season, with both wide outs playing third on third downs on their respective teams, Boldin caught 70.5 percent of balls thrown his way, while Cruz managed his lowest total of his career which was 54.2 percent. In fact, Boldins’ 70.5 percent from last season was the second highest of his career, after his 2007 season with the Arizona Cardinals, and Cruz has never caught anywhere near that much in his career as 62.6 percent was his highest total in his rookie year.

Besides, if the game’s on the line and the Jaguars need an old, cool head to gain a win in what will no doubt be an extremely tight division, I know which set of hands I want on my team. Boldin was a key factor in the Baltimore Ravens’ run to the Super Bowl in 2013 against the San Francisco 49ers, making some crucial catches in the playoffs. Even last year, playing on a Detroit Lions team behind Golden Tate and Marvin Jones, Boldin was looked to as the sure set of mitts in their crucial win over the Washington Redskins.

Taking a difficult ball and diving through three defenders, Boldin scored the winning touchdown with 30 seconds left. This is not a bad time to remind readers that the Jags lost eight games by less than seven points. That would have won them the AFC South. To make up for it, they should sign Boldin and win it this year.

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