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Fantasy Football Week 11 Waiver Wire Pickup: WR Anquan Boldin

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By @bradberreman24

Anquan Boldin, San Francisco 49ers, Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Fantasy owners tend to overlook San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Anquan Boldin, but after catching six passes (on 15 targets) for 95 yards and a touchdown against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday he has now scored in three of his last four games with at least six receptions in all four games (26 total). Going back further, he has at least four catches in eight of nine games this season and 50 or more yards seven times as well.

Is Boldin, who has clearly emerged as Colin Kaepernick’s favorite target, in line for a strong finish to 2014?

A Week 11 matchup against the New York Giants does not look favorable on the surface, but they did allow 47 receptions to wide receivers over their four games prior to Week 10, including three touchdowns to the position in their two games before Sunday. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw the ball just 17 times against the Giants on Sunday, with eight of his 10 completions going to wide receivers, so that single game should not put the four games before that on the back burner.

From Week 12-Week 17, only the regular season finale against the Arizona Cardinals stands out as a favorable matchup for Boldin. The Cardinals entered Week 10 allowing the fifth-most fantasy points to wide receivers (25.3 per game; ESPN scoring). Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams is not a good indicator that improvement is coming, but for what it’s worth the Cardinals allowed seven receptions for 53 yards to the Rams’ wide receivers.

The rest of the 49ers’ schedule has a couple neutral matchups (Washington Redskins in Week 12, San Diego Chargers in Week 16), along with a tougher than expected matchup against the Oakland Raiders in Week 14 and two games against the Seahawks (Week 13 and Week 15).

The Raiders surprisingly entered Week 10 in the top-10 of the league against wide receivers (ESPN scoring), and Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos that saw them allow 21 receptions for 208 yards and three touchdowns to wide receivers can’t be considered a huge black mark overall.

The Seahawks have only allowed four touchdowns to wide receivers all season, including two in one game, but they did allow 19 receptions to the Giants’ group on Sunday and based partially on high volume opposing passing games could continue to have some success. Boldin had 11 receptions (on 17 targets) for 146 yards and a touchdown in the final two games against Seattle in 2013, including the NFC Championship Game, so facing them twice down the stretch may not necessarily make him useless to fantasy owners.

Boldin is sure to be widely owned (81 percent in Yahoo! leagues right now), and as bye weeks wind down that should not change much. He is not a must-add based purely on his upcoming schedule, but Boldin is trending the right direction and if he happens to be available in your league he is worth a look as the fantasy playoffs approach.

Brad Berreman is a Columnist at Rant Sports.com. Connect with him on Twitter. 

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