DON’T COUNT GARCON OUT YET
Goodwin may now be No. 1 receiver, but he’s still big part of offense
SANTA CLARA >> Pierre Garçon had a confession after the 49ers’ exhibition Saturday night in Indianapolis. You know that 47-yard reception he had? It was supposed to be Marquise Goodwin catching that Jimmy Garoppolo pass.
Of course it was. After all, Goodwin seemingly has supplanted Garçon as the 49ers’ top target, or so it’s looked through the offseason
program and training camp.
Because Garçon missed the second half of last season due to neck surgery, Garoppolo developed a rapport with Goodwin, who can be relied on now for more than deep routes.
This will be Garçon’s 11th season. He turned 32 on Aug. 8, and he is one of the NFL’s oldest wide receivers. How much does he have left?
“He looks like the exact same guy as he was last year. We have a lot of confidence in Pierre,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Sunday on a media conference call. “Pierre is a guy who you always know he’s going to show up on Sunday.
“The physicality he plays with, very rarely drops the ball, he’s one of the toughest football players I’ve been around. You can really feel his value on game days.”
Garcon had a team-high 500 receiving yards (on 40 catches) before a season-ending neck fracture Oct. 29 at Philadelphia.
“We’ve got more options this year,” Shanahan said. “A lot of guys had to play last year after he got hurt. Earlier in the year, we really counted on him. … Hopefully we don’t have to put all that pressure on Pierre like we did last
year. But I know when we do need Pierre, he’s always ready to go.”
Back to Saturday’s 47yard completion to Garçon on the 49ers’ second series. As he cut across the field, Goodwin came from the other direction and was a few yards behind Garçon when the ball was caught.
“I happened to be at that spot,” Garçon said. “Jimmy threw it and Jimmy wasn’t even looking at me. … I probably got more yards or depth than I was supposed to on the
route. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
Shanahan said Garcon actually was first in Garoppolo’s progression, and after being initially covered by a linebacker, Garcon simply kept running and he ran right into the ball.
“It was a great interception he made,” Shanahan said in deadpan fashion. “Everyone was fine with it, probably except Marquise.”
Two plays earlier, Garoppolo opened the series with a 15-yard completion to Garçon. Those were Garçon’s only receptions; Goodwin had three, for 40 yards. Asked if it
was a positive sign of a long-awaited kinship with Garoppolo, Garçon downplayed that aspect.
“Hey, you know, it’s throw and catch. It’s football,” Garçon said. “I’m happy we completed passes and got some yards. It’s football, nothing complicated or overwhelming or anything crazy.”
What’s crazy is Garçon saying he doesn’t think at all about last season’s neck injury — a non-displaced fracture of the C5 pedicle, as the 49ers described it.
“It happened a long time ago. It’s football,” Garçon said. “You can’t think about it. You just have to go out and play hard.”