The Eagles Are The Frontrunners To Get The Unavailable Anquan Boldin

I'm seriously beginning to think that this saga won't go away until Anquan Boldin is either a). traded or b). the tradeline in October comes and goes. The good news, Philly fans (and Cardinal-haters): The Eagles are the frontrunners to trade for Anquan Boldin! The bad news: Anquan Boldin is not going to be traded. So, if Boldin is not available, what on earth makes the Eagles the frontrunners? Wouldn't the Cardinals then be the frontrunners to keep him. Sigh...here's the article from ALL THINGS PHILLY SPORTS.

Two reports have come out in recent days regarding Anquan Boldin and the Eagles continuing search for a top wide receiver. The reports aren't earth-shattering, it's the typical information and misinformation we have been hearing all along.

The first report is encouraging to Birds fans. According to John Clayton of ESPN, the Eagles are the frontrunners to acquire Anquan Boldin with the Giants the next team in line. Clayton believes it would take a 1st and 3rd rounder to get Boldin, certainly a reasonable price for the Eagles since they have that extra first round pick to dangle.

The second report is not as promising. According to ProFootballTalk.com, the Cardinals have no interest in trading Boldin. Boldin is under contract for 2 more years so Arizona doesn't feel any pressure to move him right now. Despite his requests for a trade, the Cards want to hold on to the disgruntled receiver, much like the Bengals held onto to Chad Johnson despite his many trade demands. Boldin may just have to wait it out and play for his measly 2.75 million next season. He won't have any leverage to leave town unless he holds out during training camp.

Does your head hurt yet? I guess it's pretty straight-forward what's going on here, but all of the reports that are flying out on this story are enough to make you stop and think, "what the hell is really going on here?"

There's certainly no lack of trying on the Eagles' part to get that big name receiver. Last off-season, they waved more money in front of Randy Moss than he ended up signing for with New England and the Eagles continously waved Lito Sheppard in front of the Cardinals in hopes of trading for Larry Fitzgerald. That, was, of course, when Lito was still considered to be a potential starting cornerback.

Now what's really interesting here is what would happen should the Eagles trade for Anquan Boldin. The Eagles have 2 1st round picks this year, surely they would have to give up one of them (and most likely as the article above mentioned, a later draft pick), which puts them in a tough bind. The Eagles have two pressing needs in the early part of the draft and that's running back and offensive tackle. The question becomes which pick would they give up? Personally, I'd rather them lose their 28th pick because I think they need to get Beanie Wells. There is a better chance, in my view, at least, of drafting a future Pro Bowl offensive lineman in the later stages of the draft than a running back. But we all know Andy Reid. He goes after those linemen early in the draft as if they were a Philly cheesesteak. We'll see what happens, but if the Eagles trade for Anquan Boldin (which would be great, no doubt about that), the odds that Beanie Wells becomes an Eagle decrease dramatically to slim to none, and I'm pretty sure slim just left town.