Los Angeles Rams deciding on Tavon Austin’s future seems too easy

The Los Angeles Rams have plenty of key decisions to make over the next few months, including what to do about Tavon Austin.

Despite emerging out of nowhere last season to become the team to beat in the NFC West, the Los Angeles Rams have plenty of work to take care of over the next few months if Sean McVay‘s squad wants another opportunity to do the same in 2018. With Jared Goff and Todd Gurley leading the way on offense, there’s every reason to believe this unit can be one of the best once again, but hopefully the team can make the easy decision to finally part ways with Tavon Austin.

Without question, Austin’s current contract with Los Angeles may be one of the worst in the NFL when looking at how much money the team is currently wasting on the former first-round pick. At the time back in 2016, the Rams felt confident enough that Austin would build off his productive 2015 campaign in which he found the end zone 10 times, but unfortunately that was far from the case.

Austin may have set a career high of 509 receiving yards that first season after agreeing to the four-year, $42 million extension, but these kind of numbers are pathetic for a wideout that was supposed to be the top option to work with in the passing game. And when looking at how Austin only finished with 13 catches during the regular season for 47 yards while playing just two snaps in the playoffs, it’s clear there’s no reason for Los Angeles to keep him around for the 2018 season.

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Even though it was basically impossible to part ways with Austin last year due to that hefty contract, the good news for the Rams is they would only lose $5 million in dead money if the team did in fact end up parting ways with the wideout. While the argument can be made Los Angeles should give Austin another chance to prove himself, keep in mind that McVay is an offensive mastermind who proved last season he knows how to get the best out of his players. So if someone like Austin can’t even find success in a high-powered offense like McVay’s, it’s simply not worth it for the Rams, and parting ways in the next few months seems like a no brainer.