Arizona Cardinals stud wide receiver Anquan Boldin is still not happy with the relationship, or non-relationship, he has with his employer.

If you remember back in August, 2008, Q (what his teammates like to call him and a letter worth 10 points in the board game Scrabble) had this to say to the NFL Network:

“At this point we have no relationship, and I don’t see that changing. It’s just gotten to a point where I think lines were crossed. If you ask me, coaches should be coaches, management should be management, and I don’t think those lines should be crossed. But when you cross those lines, you put yourself in position for things like this to happen.”

Even with obvious frustration and bitterness towards the Cardinals organization, Boldin finished with 89 catches for 1,038 yards, including a career-high 11 touchdowns. And after a devastating hit that required titanium plates and 40 titanium screws to help repair facial injuries, Q was back on the field after only missing two games. An organization should learn how to respect a player like this. Despite them making it to the Super Bowl this year, they still are the Arizona Cardinals.

After doing his best to not create any controversy during the regular season and playoffs, minus the altercation with his offensive coordinator during the Eagles game, Anquan is expressing his discontent again, this time to USA Today after Thursday’s NFC practice for the Pro Bowl:

“I don’t think the relationship can be repaired with the organization. It takes more than, ‘Well, we did you wrong and we’ll pay you this.’ It’s not about the money. It was always about the principle. Guys being true to their word. I guess I was expected to uphold my end of the bargain, and it wasn’t reciprocated…..We’ve been talking to them for two years, and they still haven’t made anything happen.”

Anquan has two years left on his contract that some people say he should honor, plus one more if Arizona decides to franchise him. If this played out, Boldin would be 31 years young old before he could negotiate a new deal and get himself out of the desert.

None of us know exactly what happened between Boldin and the coaches/management, but something did and he obviously is not happy about it. That, plus the almost-career-ending hit Boldin took during the Jets game gives him all the right in the world to do his best in getting paid now.

The NFL is a business. NFL teams don’t have to honor contracts, yet people feel the NFL players should. I’m not one of them. Anquan has been an amazing player during his six-year career. He’s shown tremendous work ethic, on and off the field. If the Arizona Cardinals don’t feel like paying him, I’m sure there are plenty of NFL teams that will.

I have no problem with Boldin expressing how he feels and saying the things he says. Ultimately, he has to look out for himself, like anyone else would in any other career. Hopefully, Anquan will get his wish and be able to put on a different uniform on at the start of the 2009 season.

It’s common knowledge that Arizona Cardinals WR Anquan Boldin wants a new deal. Fellow WR Larry Fitzgerald, who is equally as productive as Boldin, just got a four-year, $40 million deal with $30 million guaranteed.

Boldin is scheduled to make $2.5 million in base salary this season, $2.75 million in base salary in 2009 and $3 million in base salary in 2010. In other words, not even close to what Fitzgerald is getting.

It hasn’t been a real problem until now, with Boldin hinting that he might hold out of training camp.

When asked if he would be a no-show at training camp:

"I honestly can’t say at this point," Boldin said in a text message.

With fines of $15,000 a day, it’s unlikely that Boldin would stay away. And the Cardinals have said publicly that they want to upgrade Boldin’s contract, but it’s the Cardinals we are talking about. If they paid Boldin in Fitzgerald-type money, they would have way too much money tied up in wide receivers.

"We stand by what we have always said, which is that Anquan is a key member of our core group," general manager Rod Graves said. "We believe we are building something special, and we’re counting on the core players to achieve those goals."

Stay tuned, I have a feeling the Cardinals will find a way to screw this up.