Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
After watching Joe Flacco and the Ravens on Thursday night, I think it’s safe to say that they dearly miss former wideout Anquan Boldin.
Already.
Boldin absolutely dominated the Green Bay Packers this afternoon, catching a whopping 13 balls for 208 yards and a score. We knew someone would have to step up in place of the injured Michael Crabtree, and while many assumed it would be Boldin, many were also a bit hesitant to invest a fantasy pick on the 32-year old. “He’s too old,” they said. “He’s too slow,” they said. Hey, after catching 13 of 17 targets, Boldin looks pretty darn good to me.
Boldin’s dominating performance wasn’t just a good sign for him, but it was also encouraging for quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who also looked stellar. Many saw Kaepernick slide down their draft boards a bit because of the loss of his favorite weapon in Crabtree. However, if today’s game was any indication, Boldin will slide in and assume that same exact role. He will line up in the slot, in the flanker role, anywhere. Kaepernick and the 49ers will throw the football more than people think, and while the Packers secondary certainly isn’t anything to write home about, this offensive explosion was very encouraging for those who were down on Boldin. Fantasy owners should comfortably start him as no worse than a WR3 for the rest of the season. I don’t know exactly what it was, but Kaepernick and Boldin just seemed to instantly click this afternoon. I foresee a bunch of clicking between these two over the course of the season, and outside of Vernon Davis, no one else will be competing for targets in this offense.
The veteran receiver will certainly be climbing up my rankings for Week 2, even against the stingiest of defenses in Seattle.
Adam Pfeifer is a featured fantasy sports columnist for Rant Sports.
You can follow him on Twitter @aPfeiferRS.
