I have some interest in Pierre Garcon. He’ll be the featured receiver for San Francisco, and Kyle Shanahan has a lengthy history of getting the ball in the hands of his No. 1 receiver.
We’ve seen this the last two years in Atlanta, with Julio Jones catching 219 passing yards 3,280 yards. And Andre Johnson had a pair of 100-catch seasons when Shanahan was the offensive coordinator in Houston.
But Shanahan has also had success with lesser receivers. Santana Moss was his No. 1 receiver in 2010 and caught 93 passes for 1,115 yards.
Shanahan didn’t have a big receiver in 2011 or 2014, but I don’t think he had the necessary talent in those seasons. Jabar Gaffney never really got over the hump. Andrew Hawkins would be No. 3 receiver on most rosters.
Garcon himself has already worked with Shanahan. He knows the offense. Garcon led the league with 113 catches in 2013. Garcon caught only 44 passes the previous season, but he missed 10 games. Washington, recall, also at that time was using Robert Griffin III at quarterback, and he wasn’t really suited to this kind of system.
Garcon isn’t a special talent. He’s slow and has never been much of a playmaker. But he’s got a big body and will catch in traffic – he’s like Anquan Boldin and Brandon Marshall. In this system, I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t catch 90 passes.
Don’t count on a lot of touchdowns though. Of all these great receivers Shanahan has coached over the years, none have ever caught 10 touchdowns in a season. Jones is about as good as they come, and he’s caught only 9 and 6 TDs the last two years.
| KYLE SHANAHAN'S LEADING RECEIVERS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2008 | Andre Johnson, Hou. | 115 | 1,575 | 13.7 | 8 |
| 2009 | Andre Johnson, Hou. | 101 | 1,569 | 15.5 | 9 |
| 2010 | Santana Moss, Was. | 93 | 1,115 | 12.0 | 6 |
| 2011 | Jabar Gaffney, Was. | 68 | 947 | 13.9 | 5 |
| 2012 | Garcon, Was. (10 games) | 44 | 633 | 14.4 | 5 |
| 2013 | Pierre Garcon, Was. | 113 | 1,346 | 11.9 | 5 |
| 2014 | Andrew Hawkins, Cle. | 63 | 824 | 13.1 | 2 |
| 2015 | Julio Jones, Atl. | 136 | 1,871 | 13.8 | 9 |
| 2016 | Julio Jones, Atl. | 83 | 1,409 | 17.0 | 6 |
—Ian Allan