Rams need to move on from Tavon Austin in offseason

Tavon Austin was the result of a draft day deal for the Los Angels Rams.  Unfortunately, he has not lived up to the promise and this offseason signals the time to move on.

I remember the day Tavon Austin was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams, although they were in St. Louis still when it actually happened.  Les Snead, Jeff Fisher, and company traded up from the No. 16 pick to No.8, a desire they did not keep very secret, to draft the speedy receiver out of West Virginia. Like every other draft obsessed Rams fan of that era, I watched Austin’s highlight video from college–still the best I have ever seen–and marveled.

His first year saw him gain a combined 569 yards from the line of scrimmage to go along with five touchdowns, which is respectable for a rookie, especially considering he added a 98-yard punt return touchdown (giving him six total touchdowns on the year).  Fans saw his explosiveness and how in space he was a threat to score every time he touched the ball.  We just hoped he would be able to bust out as a top-10 offensive weapon the following year.

Unfortunately, the following year saw his skills get used less, totaling 462 yards and only three total touchdowns.  He also had five fumbles.  He would follow this up in 2015 with his best season of 907 yards from the line of scrimmage and 10 total touchdowns, what we thought was a glimpse of things to come.  But his 2016 campaign of 668 yards from the line of scrimmage with just four touchdowns was not doing it. However, apparently it was enough to lead the Rams to sign him to a four year $42 million contract extension.  The excuses of “if only Fisher would use him correctly” and “he needs to get more opportunities” were no longer persuasive.

And yet, with the announcement of Sean McVay taking over as the head coach of the Rams, the thoughts of Austin as an offensive weapon worthy of the No. 8 overall pick resurfaced.  Despite his limitations as a route runner and a speed receiver who could run vertical routes, fans remained hopeful that McVay would find a way to use him. “And if nothing else,” I thought, “he is at least one of the top five punt returners in the game. Teams fear when he lines up to return a punt.”

The reality was Rams fans feared when he lined up to return a punt. After muffing three of his first 12 punts of the season, McVay made the switch, putting second-year receiver Pharoh Cooper back to return punts.

That was the day Austin became expendable.

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That was the day it made sense to cut him this coming offseason and pay him the $5 million in (dead) guaranteed money he is due in order to save $3 million in cap space.  It is not financially viable to pay $8 million for a decoy.  He is on pace to gain less than 300 yards from scrimmage this season, with only one touchdown.

Despite my draft-day-enthusiasm, I can safely say the Austin experiment has failed.