Will Los Angeles Rams Trade Tavon Austin Next Year After Drafting Two Receivers?

Tavon Austin received a hefty four-year extension from the Los Angeles Rams prior to the start of the 2016 season.

The Los Angeles Rams entered the 2017 NFL Draft with the intention of finding help for quarterback Jared Goff in the passing game after the offense ranked at the bottom of the league last year by only averaging 14 points per game. While there was plenty of blame to go around ranging from a struggling offensive line to a weak receiving corps, the one player that stood out the most for the lack of explosiveness on offense was wide receiver Tavon Austin.

Prior to the start of the 2016 season, Los Angeles made a questionable decision by rewarding the former first-round pick with a hefty four-year, $42 million extension. After finding the end zone 10 different times during the 2015 season, the Rams wanted to make sure Austin was locked up for the future since they believed he was finally beginning to live up to his true potential, which was obviously a huge mistake.

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Instead of living up to his ridiculous contract, Austin turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL from the 2016 season after only making four trips into the end zone while setting a career high with 509 receiving yards in the process. The fact that Austin set a career high with these type of numbers in the passing game should be considered a huge red flag for a player considered to be the No. 1 option at wide receiver, but hopefully all of that will change now that Sean McVay has taken over as head coach.

As bad as it sounds, McVay may be Austin’s last chance to prove himself worthy of being around for the long run in Los Angeles, as the head coach has been heavily praised for what he was able to accomplish over the last few years as offensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins. Obviously, there’s nothing the Rams would love more than to see McVay help Austin reach his true NFL potential this upcoming season. But if the wideout fails to live up to expectations, it’s hard not to wonder if the organization would consider trading him next year since the cap hit wouldn’t be as bad, as Rich Hammond pointed out on Sunday.

With the additions of Cooper Kupp and Josh Reynolds from this year’s draft over the weekend, these rookies seem talented enough to each top Austin’s career high of 509 receiving yards during their first season with the Rams. While Kupp’s numbers during his four years at Eastern Washington (428 passes for 6,464 yards to go along with 73 touchdowns) are simply amazing to think about, Reynolds has been considered an underdog is whole career at Texas A&M, and seems determined to do whatever it takes to prove he’s ready to make a splash in the NFL.

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Austin has been given every opportunity in the world to prove himself as a valuable weapon for Los Angeles over the last four years, only to continue to be a disappointment for the most part. And while he deserves some benefit of the doubt when considering the team’s issues at quarterback, it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see the Rams at least consider the possibility of a trade next year if all goes well with Kupp and Reynolds as reliable targets for Goff.