Tavon Austin more valuable at running back, not receiver, for Los Angeles Rams

Based off his numbers, Tavon Austin is providing more value as a running back instead of wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams so far in 2017.

Between recovering from wrist surgery to dealing with a hamstring injury that prevented him from playing in the preseason, it’s been a rough couple of months for Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin. And even though the Rams have become one of the hottest teams in the NFL thanks to their impressive 3-1 start, Austin has struggled to play an effective role in the passing game as a reliable weapon for Jared Goff to work with.

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Prior to the start of last season, Los Angeles made the questionable decision to reward Austin with a ridiculous four-year, $42 million extension, despite his lack of production throughout his early years. One of the main reasons why the Rams were so interested in locking Austin up for the long run was due to the fact that he found the end zone 10 times in 2015 with the intention he would become more involved with the offense last season, but unfortunately that was far from the case.

While Austin did manage to set a career high in receiving yards (509) last season, these are not the kind of numbers a team wants to see from an individual earning No. 1 receiver money. Even this season, when looking at how much of an impact players like Sammy Watkins and Cooper Kupp have made in Sean McVay‘s system, it’s beyond frustrating to see Austin continue to come up short in the passing game since he only has two catches for five yards heading into Week 5.

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Then again, at least Los Angeles has to feel somewhat better about Austin recently coming through on offense against the Dallas Cowboys after finishing the game with 48 rushing yards on six attempts. Because otherwise, the frustration surrounding Austin’s lack of involvement with the Rams’ offense would be even higher when seeing all of the money the organization is already wasting on the former first-round pick.