10 worst Rams draft picks of LA Rams GM Les Snead's era
By Bret Stuter
III - WR Tavon Austin
With the eighth overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, the LA Rams select WR Tavon Austin from the University of West Virginia. As with Tutu Atwell before, any receiver chosen in Round 1 of an NFL draft had better deliver in the offense. Unfortunately for the Rams, he never did deliver on offense to the level expected of him.
Tavon Austin is a 5-foot-8 179-pound receiver out of West Virginia who can fly, boasting a 4.34 second 40-yard dash time. And like so many small and speedy players, the Rams tried to use that speed to their advantage in every way possible. He became a receiver/returner/runner for the LA Rams offense .
His arguably best season occured in 2015, a year in which he caught 52 of 87 passes for 473 yards and five touchdowns, rushed 52 times for 434 yards and four touchdowns, and returned 34 punts for 264 yards and one touchdown, while returning three kickoffs for 16 yards.
But while he contributed a little bit to multiple areas on both offense and special teams, the sum total still seems to fall short of a Top-10 draft pick. The LA Rams thought so as well, as the team finally traded Tavon Austin to the Dallas Cowboys during the 2018 NFL Draft. What did the Rams get for the former Top-10 pick? A sixth-round pick.