Bills won’t release Anquan Boldin because they don’t want him going to the Patriots

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Anquan Boldin retired this summer after a couple weeks in camp with his new team, but reconsidered his retirement in recent weeks and wanted to return- possibly for a different team. The Bills granted Boldin’s camp one week to find a suitable trade partner before the trade deadline, but apparently nothing came to fruition and Boldin remains retired.

The Bills could theoretically release Boldin from their reserve/retired list and allow the receiver to sign somewhere else, but they’ve decided to retain the rights to his contract so he can’t sign with another team like, say, the New England Patriots.

"We made a commitment to Anquan, and he made a commitment to us back in camp," Beane told SiriusXM NFL Radio on Tuesday, via ESPN. "He left for the reasons he mentioned back in August. We invested in him- invested time and committed to him- and we wouldn't want to just put him out on the market to see him go sign with the Patriots or the Dolphins or anybody that can get in our way or work against us."

Boldin was “intrigued by the possibility” of playing in New England in the wake of Julian Edelman’s knee injury, but Boldin’s camp asked the Bills for permission to speak with “NFL teams that may be in closer proximity to his home and family,” down in Florida.

So maybe the Bills would’ve only been willing to trade Boldin to an out-of-conference team like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and that simply didn’t happen. And now that the Bills acquired receiver Kelvin Benjamin, it doesn’t seem like there’s even space for Boldin to come out of retirement to play for Buffalo.

The Patriots could still use a player like Boldin, who operates well out of the slot and in the red zone where the New England offense could use a boost. It doesn’t seem like a connection is in the future for Boldin and the Patriots.

New England and Buffalo square off in weeks 13 and 16.