Arguing Moncrief's career stats is the lamest argument against him.
Yes, playing with Luck was why everyone wanted Moncrief... but as we all know, he never got to start with Luck
for even half a season.
Sure, he played 16 games in 2015... but Andre Johnson was bought in to start opposite Hilton AND
Luck only played 7 games that year.
So in 2015, Moncrief played 7 games with Luck which amounted to 54 targets, 32 rec, 351 yards, and 5 TDs. Extrapolated over 16 games, that would be 123 targets, 73 receptions, 802 yards, 11 touchdowns. Not bad for a raw 22 year old 2nd year player..
in 2016, he was injured in the 1st quarter of week 2, missed 5 games, played 6 games, got injured in the 2nd quarter of week 14, missed week 15, played week 16, and then missed week 17. Pro football reference says he started 7 of those 9 games. Not sure how much info can be drawn from that kind of season, although he did score a TD in 7 of the 9 games.
I'm not saying Moncrief is a stud. I'm just saying it's dumb to look at his career, marred by QB injuries and his own, and say he's got no upside. He's been solid in the red zone, he's still very young, and his athleticism is through the roof.
If someone wants to say he's
injury prone or
unproven, that's fine. But pointing to his stat line is weak sauce. We all know there have been extenuating circumstances.
To give some reference of how the QB play dipped in 2015, let's look at TY Hilton:
2014: 131 targets -
82/1345/7 *Moncrief rookie*
2015: 134 targets -
69/1124/5 *Moncrief's "best" year*
2016: 155 targets -
91/1448/6 *Moncrief misses 7 whole games and 5 quarters*
2017: 109 targets -
57/966/4 *the Jocoby year*