Washington Redskins Player Profile 2016: Pierre Garçon
Pierre Garçon is consistency, but is this the year he becomes inconsistent?
Pierre Garçon has been the epitome of consistency during his NFL career. According to ESPN.com, throughout his 8 seasons in the league, only in his rookie year did he have less than 600 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns. Ever since then, he’s been a receiver that any coach would love to have because he’s a player they can count on.
In his first year with the Redskins, Garçon missed 6 games. That is the most he has ever missed in a season through his entire career. He is the type of player that will show up in every game he is healthy for and do what he can to help his team. Also, he stays out of the spotlight by avoiding any potential controversy.
He maintains this almost robotic consistency no matter who his quarterback is. He’s played with greats like Peyton Manning, and he’s also dealt with the Redskins’ RGIII quarterback controversy. In both scenarios, he still put up great numbers and was a very solid player.
However, I’m going to challenge this constant image of Garçon. I think he breaks his steady mold. I think Garçon may have one of his best years ever this season.
If you look at his stats, one of Garçon’s best seasons of his career was when he was fully healthy and knew who his quarterback was going to be with the Redskins, and had time to work with him. In 2013, Garçon played in 16 games, had a career high 1,346 receiving yards, and 5 receiving touchdowns while knowing for most of the season he’d be catching passes from Griffin. Now, Kirk Cousins is firmly entrenched as the starter, and Garçon has had an entire season and offseason to get comfortable with him.
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In addition to that, the Redskins’ receiving core is full of weapons who will take a lot of attention off of Garçon. He is already a sneaky, under the radar type player, so look for him to start to be open as defenses shift their attention to more attention-grabbing wide receivers like DeSean Jackson or Jordan Reed. He is the type of receiver that can catch short passes that move the chains. These passes will begin to add up, especially if defenses ignore him for other stars.
Garçon will also most likely be a solid threat when the Redskins get into 3rd and goal situations. The Redskins have a young and inexperienced core of running backs. Because of this, short screens or slants might end up being their best method of attack.
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There are some factors that might negatively affect Garçon this season. One will be his age. He is 30 and that is nearing the end of his prime, especially as a wide receiver. Playing that position also makes him more vulnerable to injuries, but those haven’t been much of a problem in the past. In fact, he should be able to use his age and experience to emerge as a leader of this team and to motivate himself to play his all since his career may be coming to an end soon.
Overall, if Garçon can stay healthy, then expect him to put up big numbers this year. And hey, if he does not exceed expectations, then we can at least count on him to have 600+ yards and 3+ touchdowns.