Is St. Louis Rams’ Tavon Austin having a breakout year?

The St. Louis Rams took wide receiver Tavon Austin with the 8^th overall draft pick in 2013 after trading up with the Buffalo Bills. The Rams got Austin, as well as T.J. McDonald with what would have been Buffalo’s 71^st overall selection. In return, the Bills received the Rams first, second, third and seventh round selections. Austin was targeted to be the dynamic, explosive playmaker St. Louis had lacked for so long.

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Fast forward to 2015 – Austin’s first without Brian Schottenheimer as offensive co-ordinator – and with two games still to play the former West Virginia star already has more receptions (44) more receiving yards (427) more rushing yards (390) and more total touchdowns (10) than either of his previous seasons. It is hard to argue that Austin and rookie running back Todd Gurley have not been the sole highlights on offense for the Rams this year.

Clearly as a number one wide receiver on the depth chart, 427 yards in itself perhaps a pretty poor return. The Rams have waited a long time for a 1000-yard receiver, and Austin has barely reached that figure in three seasons combined in the NFL. Coming off a 1,289-yard, 12-touchdown season in his final year in college in 2012, you could be forgiven for expecting better production. 

Nov 29, 2015; Cincinnati, OH, USA; St. Louis Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin (11) against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals won 31-7. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

However, this needs to be tempered by the fact that Austin never was and never will be the classic wideout man. Working best in the slot and using his speed to pick up yards after the catch, he is in many ways the polar opposite of the stereotypical 6-foot-and-some wide receiver using height and physicality to win deep balls in the air – in the way Brian Quick was drafted (unsuccessfully) to be.

Austin is not a tall man, but his skill set lies elsewhere. Austin’s contributes in the running game in the way the vast majority of wide receivers in the league do not – he has been the leading wide receiver in rushing yards in 2014 and 2015, and was third behind only Terrelle Pryor and Cordarrelle Patterson in 2013.

It should also be noted that Austin, along with the rest of the Rams receiving group, has been handicapped by some pretty inept play at the quarterback position this year. Nick Foles has been quite rightly benched after a career-low quarterback rating of just 69 on the season.

Despite a good showing on Thursday against Tampa Bay, Case Keenum’s performance against Baltimore where he went 12 of 26 for 136 yards was down right ugly. Without a reliable signal caller it is hard for any receiver to put up big numbers, irrespective of talent.

In summary, it is probably stretching the truth to say Austin has had a breakout year. While many of the reasons for this, such as poor play by the quarterback and offensive line are out of his control, the fact remains that Austin is still not putting up the numbers Rams fans were hoping for when he was drafted.

Austin is definitely maturing as a player, particularly with being more direct at getting downfield instead of the frustrating quickstepping in the backfield that plagued his first two years, and his production has improved accordingly. Even if Austin were to inexplicably be left out for the remaining two games, 2015 will still go down as his best year so far. But has his performance and contribution improved to such an extent that we can call this a breakout year? The answer would have to be no.