Anquan Boldin Still Wants Out of Arizona

A trip to the Super Bowl could not mend fences between wideout Anquan Boldin and the Arizona Cardinals, at least not as far as Boldin is concerned. The Pro Bowler was unhappy before the season began about his contract extension, seemingly because he wasn't being paid as handsomely as his superior teammate, Larry Fitzgerald. That hasn't changed.

From Boldin's point of view, he'd like a deal comparable to Fitzgerald. He seems to feel like, by playing out the season without his contract extension, he held up his end of the bargain.

"I don't think the relationship can be repaired with the organization," Boldin told USA TODAY after Thursday's NFC practice for Sunday's Pro Bowl. "It takes more than, 'Well, we did you wrong and we'll pay you this.' It's not about the money. It was always about the principle. Guys being true to their word. I guess I was expected to uphold my end of the bargain, and it wasn't reciprocated."

Isn't he jumping the gun a bit here? When the Cardinals cut Edgerrin James, they are going to be quite a hefty amount of money under the salary cap. Conceivably, they could re-up with Kurt Warner and still be able to afford an extension to Boldin with a moderate pay raise. They definitely want to keep him.

Cardinals team president Michael Bidwill said before the Super Bowl, "We view (Anquan) as one of our core players. We've tried to work with him to restructure his deal and extend it."

There are a few items clouding matters here. First of all, Boldin's agent is Drew Rosenhaus. I know Boldin's smart enough to think for himself, but he's certainly got that loud-mouthed egomaniac screaming sweet nothings in his ear about "disrespect" and being unfairly paid for his production. When you hear this long enough from a trusted advisor, you start to believe it. Boldin's only human, after all.

Also of interest, if Boldin leaves, Warner may retire. Seriously.

"It's too key to our success to let Anquan go," Warner said. "I don't know if I'm leaning either direction. But (Boldin's situation) is going to be a key piece to it, whether we can do something as a team like this year.

"If we can keep that together, that excites me about the possibility of coming back. If not, there will be a lot of struggles to overcome that'll make it harder."

In the past, I've recommended the Cardinals trade Boldin, but if that causes Warner to retire, I'm reneging on that stance. Even if the Cardinals think it's unreasonable for Boldin to request equal pay to Fitzgerald (I do), it probably behooves them to make him happy. Otherwise, this Super Bowl run could become an aberration quite quickly.