While reading through post draft articles the last few days, I've seen a number that go after Jerry Angelo for not making a better effort to get Anquan Boldin. I planned to write on it, but found that it was already mentioned here.
The gist of everybody's article seems to be that Angelo half-heartedly offered the #2 to AZ for Boldin, they declined and Jerry Angelo let it go. I wanted to take a "back off approach" toward JA on this one.
We don't know the story, so we can't pretend to guess at how half heartedly we went after him.
JA: "We'll give you our #2"
AZ: "We want a 1 and 3"
JA: "We'll give you our #2 and #3"
AZ: "We want a 1 and 3"
JA: "How about we give you our #2 and #3, a safety we don't have and a guy that a really cool and awesome web site nicknamed Dropapotamus"
AZ: : "In that case, you have a deal"
That is not how it works. Angelo could have backed a Brinks truck loaded with gold, second day picks and a ruby-encrusted amulet that would transfer the heart and talent of Kurt Warner into Matt Lienart and it wouldn't have mattered. If they wanted a #1 this year there is nothing Angelo could have done. Sure, he could have tried to sell them on our #1 in 2011, but that not only would likely be a very late first rounder it also roams closely to the subject of hijacking the team's future.
I don't know what happend on the phone in the War Room as the minutes ticked away and neither does David Haugh or anybody else that wasn't in that room. The fact is Angelo made an attempt to get a top 10 receiver to go with a top 5 quarterback. The deal just didn't get done, but he certainly took a shot.