You can tell just by listening to him that legendary NFL receiver Jerry Rice has a lot of respect for San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin. Goodwin came close to his first 1,000-yard season last season — his first with head coach Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers.
This year, Goodwin has just 11 receptions for 204 yards through five starts while battling hamstring and quadricep injuries. He is on pace for 571 receiving yards this season.
49ers wide receivers did not have a good day against the Rams, and Rice noticed. Only three caught passes. Those receivers combined for four receptions for 35 yards.
Veteran starter Pierre Garçon had just one reception for five yards. Rice took notice of that as well. While a healthy Goodwin creates mismatches against opposing defenses, Rice isn't sure Garçon, who is in his 11th NFL season, is the difference maker he once was.
"Pierre is a great possession receiver, but he doesn't bring fear into the opposing team by running by them," Rice said on Monday morning during an interview on 95.7 The Game. "That was something that I always worked on. It was important to me to be a certain size where I could run by defenders. And if you have that threat, now you can go over the top, you can catch everything underneath. I think without Goodwin, they don't have that guy."
Of course, Garçon wasn't brought in by Shanahan and company to take the tops off of defenses. The 49ers needed a veteran leader who had experience within Shanahan's offense and could help teach the younger receivers on the team.
Rice still questions whether or not the 49ers have the leadership they need with Garçon. Is he the type of player who can help motivate a team whose season has spiraled out of control?
"I don't see that in Pierre," Rice said. "I don't see that type of leadership. If I had one catch for five yards, I would be pissed right now. I would be going off. Sometimes you need to see that type of emotion from a certain player and I don't think he's that type of player.
"Now, will some of the other veterans step up? I don't know if they have that type of leadership. But right now, what we're seeing on the football field is not 49er football, so someone's got to step forward and say, 'Hey look man, we've got to work a little bit harder and clean this up.'"
You can listen to the entire interview with Rice below.