I see that there was some kicking around of where Anquan Boldin might sign. He’s looking for work, and I suppose some team will bring him in for a look this summer. But Boldin will be 36 in October, and it’s unusual for receivers that age to be productive (especially big lumbering guys who can’t run anymore).
Boldin has some ability to post up and operated like kind of a tight end, but I don’t know that anybody’s looking for that kind of a wide receiver. I recall seeing that a scout or GM was talking a shot at him a few weeks back, pointing out that Boldin simply can’t move well enough anymore.
Andy was kicking around this idea earlier in the day, but let’s keep in mind that you simply don’t see many receivers of this type do much of anything.
In this century (the last 16 seasons), only seven wide receivers who are older than Boldin have been able to finish as top-30 wide receivers. That’s using standard fantasy scoring. Only one has been able to crack the top 20 (Jerry Rice did it twice).
I just checked over the numbers, only 22 receivers who were at least 34 years old on opening day have finished as top-20 receivers. (The seven who even older than Boldin, I’ve got them in bold).
No reason to even be thinking about throwing a late-round pick at Boldin in a typical 12-team league, I think.
| BEST SEASONS BY RECEIVERS WHO WERE 34 (OR OLDER) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Age | No | Yards | TD | Points | Rank |
| 2006 | Marvin Harrison, Ind. | 34 | 95 | 1,366 | 12 | 208.6 | 1 |
| 2000 | Cris Carter, Minn. | 34 | 96 | 1,274 | 9 | 181.4 | 10 |
| 2001 | Tim Brown, Oak. | 35 | 91 | 1,165 | 10 | 180.4 | 8 |
| 2000 | Tim Brown, Oak. | 34 | 76 | 1,128 | 11 | 180.0 | 11 |
| 2001 | Jerry Rice, Oak. | 38 | 83 | 1,139 | 9 | 167.9 | 12 |
| 2002 | Jerry Rice, Oak. | 39 | 92 | 1,211 | 7 | 165.1 | 11 |
| 2004 | Rod Smith, Den. | 34 | 79 | 1,144 | 7 | 159.7 | 17 |
| 2004 | Jimmy Smith, Jac. | 35 | 74 | 1,172 | 6 | 153.2 | 21 |
| 2007 | Bobby Engram, Sea. | 34 | 94 | 1,147 | 6 | 150.7 | 16 |
| 2006 | Joey Galloway, T.B. | 34 | 62 | 1,057 | 7 | 148.6 | 15 |
| 2005 | Keenan McCardell, S.D. | 35 | 70 | 917 | 9 | 146.3 | 17 |
| 2009 | Derrick Mason, Balt. | 35 | 73 | 1,028 | 7 | 145.0 | 17 |
| 2009 | Donald Driver, G.B. | 34 | 70 | 1,061 | 6 | 143.4 | 19 |
| 2014 | Steve Smith Sr., Balt. | 35 | 79 | 1,065 | 6 | 142.5 | 20 |
| 2007 | Joey Galloway, T.B. | 35 | 57 | 1,014 | 6 | 137.5 | 21 |
| 2008 | Derrick Mason, Balt. | 34 | 80 | 1,037 | 5 | 136.0 | 22 |
| 2005 | Rod Smith, Den. | 35 | 83 | 1,055 | 5 | 135.5 | 21 |
| 2005 | Jimmy Smith, Jac. | 36 | 86 | 1,073 | 3 | 125.3 | 24 |
| 2008 | Isaac Bruce, S.F. | 35 | 61 | 835 | 7 | 125.2 | 25 |
| 2008 | Muhsin Muhammad, Car. | 35 | 65 | 923 | 5 | 122.3 | 28 |
| 2000 | Jerry Rice, S.F. | 37 | 75 | 805 | 7 | 122.3 | 26 |
| 2010 | Derrick Mason, Balt. | 36 | 61 | 802 | 7 | 122.2 | 28 |
—Ian Allan