Naqvi: Pierre Garçon showing toughness and veteran leadership for 49ers

Despite some seemingly poor quarterback play by Brian Hoyer during the first two weeks of the regular season, through three games with the San Francisco 49ers, wide receiver Pierre Garçon has caught the football 16 times for 249 yards. His seven receptions for 142 yards last Thursday night against the Los Angeles Rams were his best numbers since an 11-catch, 138-yard performance in September of 2014 while with the Washington Redskins.

Garçon continues to be among the most reliable receivers in the NFL. He has been targeted by Hoyer 25 times this season. Of those pass attempts, 16 were catchable, according to Pro Football Focus. How many of those catchable footballs slipped through Garçon's hands? Zero.

Those numbers are consistent with last season in Washington when Garçon had the lowest drop rate (1.25) among receivers in the NFL. In 2016, Garçon was targeted 110 times. Of those pass attempts, 80 were deemed catchable, again, according to Pro Football Focus. He dropped just one of those 80 catchable passes.

While discussing the 49ers offense as a whole, hosts Zain Naqvi and Al Sacco of our "No Huddle" podcast shared their thoughts on the team's veteran receiver. Sacco brought up Garçon's current statistical pace and Naqvi added to that by explaining why the receiver is such a great fit in Kyle Shanahan's offense.

"I feel like Garçon is a great number two [receiver] but he's playing that role of a number one really well," Naqvi said. "He's catching short passes. He's catching passes along the sidelines. He had a long 50-plus-yard catch from Hoyer near the end of the game. He's basically been doing everything for them. He's shown toughness and veteran leadership.

"He's the type of guy that they need to keep around to be able to mentor some of these young guys. As the season goes on, you'll see that a lot of guys will come open in terms of scheme on routes and things like that. They're going to come open and it's up to Hoyer or whoever the quarterback is to get them the ball.

"I think this scheme fits Pierre Garçon's skillset really well. He's able to find open spots. Kyle Shanahan is able to utilize Garçon's strengths to the fullest and I really think this is a really good spot for him. I think that Pierre Garçon is not just a one-year thing. I think he's going to be a three-, four-, (or) five-year thing. I think he's probably going to end up playing into his mid 30's with the 49ers."

You can listen to the entire discussion between Naqvi and Sacco, which includes their complete Week 3 breakdown, below.