It was reported that Pierre Garcon turned down an initial, five-year offer from the Colts just a couple of weeks ago.
Colts free-agent wide receiver Pierre Garcon recently rejected a five-year contract offer from Indianapolis.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 24, 2012
Some questioned the Colts intentions to actually keep Garcon after Robert Mathis was hit with the franchise tag, only to sign a deal directly after. And now, apparently the Colts do not value Garcon as highly as he values himself.
John Clayton has confirmed as much, stating that the contract talks have been "cordial", but the offers "weren't good enough" for Garcon to not test the market, according to a source. That said, I like Garcon a lot, but I'm kind of torn on this.
Is he really worth #1 receiver money? Granted it was only one year, but he clearly improved in '11 and showed flashes of being a worthy possession receiver. Keep in mind, this was also with Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky throwing to him. He's been prone to drops---also cleaned this up last year---and is very physical. Garcon's greatest feature is clearly his big play ability. This alone could be enough for some team to pay him big, big money. And with a young, franchise quarterback coming to town, who is he (Andrew Luck) going to throw to? How much do the Colts actually plan on running the ball? My guess? Quite a bit.
So now, even with a ridiculously thin receiving core, the Colts still weren't willing to show Garcon enough to circumvent their serious lack of depth. The Colts can't afford to "overpay", but is it even about the money for Garcon? Is Garcon not on board with rebuilding or are the Colts simply low balling him? Maybe they just have their sights set on a receiver in the draft?
Regardless, I definitely would like to see Garcon stick around, but I'm not going to be heartbroken if he leaves. If he tests the market and sees that the Colts observations are the general consensus, maybe they will agree. Either way, I don't blame him for wanting to see what's out there.
Especially if Peyton Manning comes calling.