St. Louis Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin hasn't exactly made a big impact since entering the NFL out of West Virginia in 2013. In his two NFL seasons, Austin has hauled in 71 passes for 660 yards and four touchdowns, figures that rank 110th, 135th and 119th in the NFL during that time, respectively.
The value Austin's added as a runner and returner has been nice, but also not nearly enough to make up for his lack of production as a passing game weapon, given the lofty price (they surrendered the 16th, 46th, 78th and 222nd picks for No.'s 8 and 71) the Rams paid to move up and get him with the No. 8 pick in the draft. Austin has carried the ball 45 times for 375 yards and two scores in his two NFL seasons, and he's also returned two punts for touchdowns. Remove those 98 and 78-yard punt return scores from his record, though, and he's averaged just 7.5 yards per return on 66 tries, a clip that would be good for 33rd-best in the NFL in that span. As it is, his 9.9 yard overall average checks in only 19th in the league.
Even though he's been a bit of a disappointment so far, there is optimism about Austin's role in St. Louis.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that his production level should increase,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher told Sports Illustrated. “I think one of the key things for us as we move forward is Nick and the fact that he’s 6'5" and can see Tavon and get the ball to him. That was the plan with Sam [Bradford is 6'4"], but it didn’t happen. He didn’t really have Sam throwing him the ball for two years.
“This has nothing to do with Tavon. It’s not a reflection on what he’s done. Tavon has done everything he possibly can. He’s in great shape, and he’s highly talented and a passionate teammate. This has been more about the circumstances of our situation. This potentially could be a breakout year for him. Because he’s got the potential to win outside and inside.”
Maybe a taller quarterback will help Austin goose his numbers a bit (though I honestly can't figure out why that should matter; Drew Brees is 6-foot and has had no trouble finding smaller receivers with passes throughout his career, for example, including Brandin Cooks last year), but one thing that would surely help a whole lot is making it onto the field more often. Austin has missed four games in his two seasons, and he's also only been one of the 11 players between the lines for 54 percent of the Rams' offensive snaps in the games he's been healthy, according to Pro Football Focus' tracking.
The Rams have thrown the ball on 68 percent of plays with Austin on the field, but he's only been targeted with 16 percent of those passes. He simply has not been part of the offense, now matter how tall the man behind center stands.
The Rams are looking to rectify that this season, and they're also looking to get him the ball in more varied ways. “I think you’ll see more of an attempt to either get the ball to him in space as a runner, as an outside runner, as an underneath receiver, as a deep receiver and also, unfortunately for his case, as a decoy,” Fisher said. “Because people react to him, defenses react, when he’s in the game. People are really concerned about him on offense. Opponents don’t want the ball in his hands. And we do have other options this year. We only have one ball.”
The Rams, of course, do have plenty of other options. They drafted Todd Gurley in the first round of this year's draft, they still have Tre Mason as another option in the backfield, and the wide receiver corps includes holdovers Brian Quick, Stedman Bailey (who arguably surpassed Austin in the pecking order with his play down the stretch of last season) and Kenny Britt. It's tough to figure where all these extra touches the Rams want for Austin will come from, given the other mouths to feed.
Still, Austin isn't deterred by any "bust" talk. “It can kind of get to you,” Austin told SI. “But anybody who really knows football, they kind of know what’s going on. I’ve been through four or five quarterbacks in the past two years, and that’s not making excuses. But I’ve had my glimpses, and had my times when I came on. And I had my times when I wasn’t playing too much. For the most part, it’s out of my hands. All I can do is come in and work hard and hope my number is called.”