Contextual in post are generally considered better, but given the choice of a blogpost deep in the archives and sitewide / homepage blogroll, i would take the blogroll.
A sidebar link into a blog post with your contextual link would work well.
Of corse a lot depends on the blogroll, does the blogroll have 7 well chosen links, or 150 links rented out for $1 a month?
Things are rarely black and white with this stuff.