Buffalo Bills: Dissecting the loss of Anquan Boldin

Anquan Boldin surprised the league by deciding to retire instead of playing his 15th season. To Bills fans, it just seems like a continuation of embarrassments that have been occurring for far too long.

It was reported by Ian Rapoport that Boldin backed out of signing for the Buffalo Bills before changing his mind. Why did he even bother? He’s just wasted our time and his own, while heaping more pain on us.

The Effect

What does losing Boldin mean to the team? Not that much actually. Obviously, he would have been a good red zone target for Tyrod, but he’s hardly in his prime, and he’s certainly not a deep threat.

Will the loss of Boldin changea number of games the Buffalo Bills win? No. So overall, it was just a pointless exercise that didn’t need to happen.

Who benefits?

Our three wide receiver sets now consist of; Jordan Matthews, Zay Jones, and Andre Holmes. Okay, it’s not elite, but it’s better than last years core in my eyes. Jordan Matthews is an extremely underrated player, he hasn’t got Watkins’ deep threat, but his stats don’t lie. He’s racked up 2673 yards and 19 TDs in 36 starts.

I’m extremely excited about Zay Jones. The guy just can’t help but make plays. Watch his catch against the Eagles here –

It’s also good for guys such as Rod Streater, who it seems is almost a lock to make the roster if his injury doesn’t keep him out after an excellent camp and preseason.

Winner

The retirement of Anquan Boldin has done a lot of good for Zay Jones. For me, he’ll now be our feature receiver. I expect Matthews to get most of the work out of the slot, with Zay moving around to find the best match-up. People don’t give enough respect to him; he’s anything but just a slot guy. He ran a 4.45 40 yard dash at the combine, to put that into perspective, Sammy ran a 4.43.

Next: Which Buffalo Bills You Should & Shouldn’t Draft In Fantasy This Year.

Let us know what you think of Boldin’s decision to retire and how you think it will effect our other receivers in the comments section.