If you ask anyone who ever faced former Cardinal Anquan Boldin, they probably won’t tell you that it was fun to play against him.
Boldin was as physical as a wide receiver has been in a long time. He took hits from opponents and delivered enough of his own.
Boldin is one of the persistent pass catchers who aspire to have a bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, seven years after he played his last NFL game.
Larry Fitzgerald, who spent 17 NFL seasons with the Cardinals, including six between 2004 and 2009, feels Boldin is deserving.
“No one you want in your foxhole or on your side like him,” Fitzgerald said in an interview with espn.com following Boldin’s retirement. Thus, I wish we could have continued to play for a little while longer. However, to witness him take off and triumph in a championship. The man has had an incredible career worthy of the Hall of Fame.
Boldin may very well experience it, but it’s also probably going to take some time. That is the fact that characterizes the caliber of receivers that are taken into consideration annually.
Boldin is one of six wide receivers who made it to this level for the third straight year after The Hall of Fame revealed the 25 semifinalists for the Class of 2024 this week. That is the most semifinalists of any position group. There are three linebackers, two safeties, one tight end, guard, tackle, defensive tackle, cornerback, and kick returner in addition to the four running backs and edge rushers.
In every year they were eligible, all six of them placed in the semifinals. After five seasons out of the NFL, players are eligible for the first time to the Hall of Fame.
Leading that group is 10-time semifinalist Torry Holt, a former receiver for the St. Louis Rams who finished his career with the Jaguars. Reggie Wayne of the Colts has been a semifinalist five times, and Hines Ward of the Steelers is in his eighth year of semifinals. Boldin is in his third year as a semifinalist, as is Andre Johnson (Texans, Colts, Titans), and Steve Smith Sr. (Panthers, Ravens). Following his tenure in Arizona, Boldin played for the Ravens, 49ers, and Lions.
The selection committee, of which I am one of the fifty members, will vote again in December when the list is whittled down to fifteen finalists. All of the candidates will then be considered at a meeting in January that might go up to nine hours in length.
After that meeting, five of the fifteen candidates will make it through the process and be inducted in August in Canton along with coach Buddy Parker and the three senior candidates, Randy Gradishar, Steve McMichael, and Art Powell, who have received the necessary number of votes to be selected.
After serving on the committee for twenty years, I can say that, despite the challenges we have in making these momentous choices for every candidate, selecting receivers is the most challenging, particularly in light of the explosive growth of the NFL passing game in recent years.
Only Holt, Johnson, and Wayne have advanced to the final six, out of the current group of semifinalists. Out of the 25, only nine have advanced to the finals over a span of 21 years. Ten of the twenty-one are made up of wide receivers, with Wayne and Holt both having four and Johnson having two.
While Holt waited primarily because he and his Rams colleagues, wide receiver Isaac Bruce, quarterback Kurt Warner, and tackle Orlando Pace, all became eligible in 2015, Wayne and Johnson have been finalists every year of their eligibility. Warner won in 2017, Bruce in 2020, and Pace in 2016.
Boldin, Smith, and Ward most likely won’t advance to the finals until the other three candidates are chosen.
When Andre Reed and Art Monk were contenders in 2007 but neither was chosen, the committee faced a similar impasse. Monk was elected the following year, while Cris Carter joined Reed and Monk as finalists. Carter and Reed were not re-elected in 2009, and Tim Brown’s first election in 2010 brought the group’s size to three.
Before Carter made a breakthrough in 2013, which opened the door for Reed in 2014 and Brown in 2015, none of the three candidates was elected for a full three years. While Reed was in his ninth year of eligibility and had been a finalist eight times, Brown and Carter were elected in their sixth year of eligibility.
Following Brown, Marvin Harrison, Wayne’s Colts teammate, was elected in 2016, his third year of eligibility. Randy Moss, who was first eligible, and Terrell Owens, who was also in his third year, were elected in 2018 and 2020, respectively, Bruce in 2020, his sixth year of eligibility and fourth as a finalist, and Calvin Johnson, who was first eligible, in 2021.
A year ahead of his colleague John Stallworth of the Steelers, Lynn Swann arrived at Canton in 2001, marking the start of the century. But for both, it was a grueling process, mainly because they were frequently discussed during the same conference.
It’s not a misprint that Swann was elected in his fourteenth year of eligibility, and Stallworth in his tenth and eighth years as a finalist.
Michael Irvin, in his third year of eligibility and a finalist in 2007, beat out first-time eligible Jerry Rice in 2010, and James Lofton, in his fifth year of eligibility and three times finalist, was elected in 2003.
Boldin and his fellow wide receivers must contend with the fact that, since 2001, 14 players have been inducted, totaling 76 years of eligibility and 69 final appearances.
The fact that the receivers’ numbers are so similar makes it extremely difficult to separate them.
Fitzgerald is eligible in 2026 and most people think it would be easy for him to start in his first season, but what’s surprising is how identical his stats are when broken down each game instead of total.
With 1,076 receptions, Boldin leads the current semifinals field, although his lead is only six more than Wayne’s and Johnson’s combined. Fitzgerald played 263 games, which is 44 more than Smith’s 219, despite having 1,432 catches.
That explains why he has 17,492 yards—2,761 more than Smith. Fitzgerald has 121 touchdowns to Ward’s 106, but Fitzgerald’s longevity again explains the difference.
Holt’s career was prematurely curtailed by a knee injury, although having lower total numbers than the group. His average per game and average per catch are really high.
Take a close look at the averages and see how they all compare in a few categories:
Seasons/games/games started
Fitzgerald: 17/263/261
Smith: 16/219/198
Ward: 14/217/190
Wayne: 14/211/197
Boldin: 14/202/198
Johnson: 14/193/187
Holt: 11/173/158
Receptions/average per catch/per game
Johnson: 1062/13.4/5.5
Fitzgerald: 1432/12.2/5.4
Boldin: 1076/12.8/5.33
Holt: 920/14.5/5.32
Wayne: 1070/13.4/5.1
Smith: 1031/14.3/4.7
Ward: 1000/12.1/4.6
Yards/per game
Holt: 13,382/77.4
Johnson: 14,185/73.5
Boldin: 13,779/68.2
Wayne: 14,345/68.0
Smith: 14,731/67.3
Fitzgerald: 17,492/66.5
Ward: 12,083/55.7
Touchdowns/per game/catches per TD (lower the better)
Fitzgerald: 121/0.46/11.83
Holt: 74/0.43/12.4
Boldin: 82/0.41/13.1
Ward: 85/0.392/11.76
Wayne: 82/0.388/13.0
Smith: 81/0.37/12.7
Johnson: 70/0.36/15.2
All of this shows that there isn’t much division among these deserving participants.
It also makes sense why Fitzgerald regrets that Boldin, who left due to a contract dispute, is no longer a teammate. The numbers during their six seasons together are impressive.
Each received over 100 receptions in 2005. Boldin had 102, and Fitzgerald had 103, the most in the NFL. Boldin had 1,402 yards and seven touchdowns, while Fitzgerald had 1,409 yards and ten.
Boldin had 685 receptions (6.1 per game), 780 targets (9.9), 6,143 yards (77.8), 12.7 per catch, and 36 touchdowns (0.46) in 79 games with 76 starts.
Fitzgerald had 523 receptions (5.7 per game), 865 targets (9.4), 7,067 yards (76.8), 13.5 per grab, and 59 receptions in 92 games that he participated and started.
171 games and 168 starts, 1,008 receptions on 1,645 targets, 13,210 yards, 13.1 yards per grab, and 95 touchdowns are the combined stats for both players.
Boldin has frequently stated that he only considers the Hall of Fame when prompted to do so. Regretfully, it’s likely that he will be questioned for many years to come.
