Foxsports came out with a list of the top 10 underpaid players in the NFL. I was surprised to see Pierre Garcon come in at number 10. Though I love Garcon’s upside, I’ve been a little surprised at how much people have made out of his reasonably modest production. The text for Garcon reads like this:
While superstar Reggie Wayne’s asking for a new deal, the Colts’ other starting receiver will be making $470,000 this season. This sixth-round pick from tiny Mount Union College is in his third NFL season, and his 16.3 yard average in ’09 was the team’s best. Garcon should only get better and is one of the true bargains in the salary-cap era. Simply another example of a productive player with a low-draft status.
The article refers to Frenchy’s 16.3 YPC average. That was good for 12th in the NFL last year. However, he also only caught 47 passes (74th in the NFL) for 775 yards (44th in the NFL), and 4 TDs (53rd in the NFL). He also wasn’t particularly efficient. He had a DVOA of -0.4% (basically league average). He was 47th in that stat. He had a huge playoffs (or better put, a huge AFC Championship game), right up until he dropped a critical pass that might well have cost the Colts the Super Bowl.
His talent says he could become a serious force in the NFL. His numbers say, “he’s just a guy”.
Pierre is a good young player with a HUGE upside. He is not underpaid.
Next year…he might be seriously underpaid (fingers crossed). For now, though, it’s all potential.
It’s a year early to included him on a list like this.
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