San Francisco 49ers: Big day ahead for Anquan Boldin?

Tomorrow, the San Francisco 49ers will get a cake matchup against the Cleveland Browns oft-toasted defense, and veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin is a threat to go for 100 receiving yards for the first time since putting up back-to-back triple-digit performances in October.

It’s been a nightmare of a season for the San Francisco 49ers, but that was to be expected given all of the turnover that transpired over the offseason. With Colin Kaepernick benched, Blaine Gabbert has been playing well enough to surprise people, but he hasn’t played well enough to show that he’s the solution to the 49ers problems. Standing by his side is the former Baltimore Ravens WR duo of Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith, and both players are undoubtedly licking their chops at their Week 14 opponent, the Cleveland Browns.

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When discussing the Browns organization, everyone wants to focus on Johnny Manziel, Josh McCown, the coaching staff, or Jimmy Haslam, but this team’s second-biggest storyline behind Manziel should be the defense. After looking like a shutdown unit in 2014 behind elite player from the likes of Tashaun Gipson, Joe Haden, and Donte Whitner, the Browns D has been an utter embarrassment in 2015.

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Not only has the run defense been as emphatically poor as it was last season despite the selection of a big defensive tackle in the first round of the 2015 draft, but the pass defense has taken massive steps backwards. The Browns, who are the only team in the NFL with ten losses, give up the second-most points per game with the second-most net yards per pass attempt allowed. Wide receivers burn them with ease, they don’t intercept passes (even though Gipson tied for the league-lead in picks in 2014), and they don’t have a single player with four sacks on the season.

The 49ers are the third-worst team in the NFL in terms of net yards per pass attempt on offense and lack a consistent running game, but even Gabbert should find this Browns defense easy to carve up. I mean, Cleveland hasn’t allowed less than 30 points in a game since October, regularly surrendering over 200 passing yards in the process.

So while Gabbert has just five passing touchdowns through four starts, his 89.5 QB Rating and 7.6 yards per pass attempt during that span give him the edge. Smith has a tantalizing matchup against a Browns secondary that just might be the worst in the NFL against deep threats, but Boldin is always the safest option in the 49ers offense.

Earlier this month, Boldin cleared the 13,000-yard mark for his career despite an otherwise poor day against the Chicago Bears, but he looks primed for a bounce-back game against Cleveland. Prior to his 5-for-13 dud (catches and targets, that is) against Chicago, Boldin had 93 receiving yards against two tough defenses in the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks.

The Browns won’t give up any big plays to Boldin, but it’s hard to see them matching up favorably against an excellent chain-mover who is one of the best receivers in recent memory at using his body in tight situations, particularly in the red zone. He hasn’t scored a TD since Week 5 and has just two touchdowns on the season, but, remember, this is a guy who caught seven TDs in 2014 despite playing in a dysfunctional offense.

While the 49ers offense cannot be described as “functional” this season either, let’s just say that even they should be able to find a way to give either Boldin or Smith a shot at a big day against a defense that is outside of the top-20 in DVOA on both deep and short throws, as per Football Outsiders.

Oct 11, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Anquan Boldin (81) catches the ball prior to the game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

If you follow the link above to the FO stats page, you’ll see that the Browns are at their worst against wide receivers lined up on the right side of the field, which is where Boldin lined up last week.

We’ve also seen him use his frame to generate mis-matches on the inside, and either spot looks like a good situation for a player who has been by far the 49ers best skill position player with Carlos Hyde out.

Sadly, it doesn’t take much to be better than the only-recently-used Smith, Draughn, and three players with 19-21 receptions on the entire season.

Boldin’s 49 catches are more than the 49ers second-best pass-catcher’s output (that would be Smith), and we can only hope that Gabbert is able to hit him up for more than his average of 4.9 receptions per game on the season.

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There’s little doubt that Boldin has been a true professional and one of the league’s better possession wideouts throughout his career, and it would be nice to see him deliver in a big way against a pass defense that is even less competent than the Niners passing attack.

In fact, the 49ers have actually looked capable of moving the ball under Gabbert, and Smith’s sudden big plays over the past two weeks could allow Boldin to turn those targets into more receptions, meaning that he could have a game similar to the ones he had vs. Seattle and Arizona.