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Tavon Austin will have a breakout season in 2016
by Christopher DuVall 11 hours ago Follow @chrisduvalltvThe 5-foot-8 receiver is all over the field making plays on offense and special teams. If Austin gets the ball in open space he is almost unstoppable.
In a study of Rams game clips from last season, Tavon Austin stands out. He reminds me of future hall of fame receiver Steve Smith Sr. Like Smith, Austin is an explosive playmaker, that frequently leaves opposing defenses stunned. The 5-foot-8 receiver is all over the field making plays on offense and special teams. If Tavon gets the ball in open space he is almost unstoppable. In 2015 Austin was the Rams leading receiver, scoring five touchdowns on 52 passing attempts. He also rushed for another four touchdowns and a 75 yard punt return for a touchdown against the Seahawks. Austins stats would be even better if not for big plays called back by penalties. Coach Jeff Fisher recently stated that Tavon Austin has done everything the team has asked of him. The fifth year coach also emphasized the team’s efforts to get the dynamic receiver more involved in 2016.
While some have labeled the former first round pick a bust they fail to realize that his lack of production stems from playing on a merry go round of mediocre quarterbacks. In Austin’s three seasons, he has played with six different signal callers. All of which were unable to capitalize on his abilities. The pundits that know football, see Tavon Austin for what he really is. They use words like “game changing player” and recognize that Austin is a dual threat out of the backfield, in the slot or on the outside as primary receiver. Austin’s potential has gone untapped in the pros. The Rams hope to change all that in 2016 with a new playbook under offensive coordinator Rob Boras.
Dec 6, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin (11) makes a catch in front of Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson (21) during the first half at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY SportsBoras took over play calling duties at the end of last season and the team went 3 and 1 under the former tight ends coach. The franchise wants to build on that success and improve last years passing game that ranked worst in the league. Fisher and Boras have admitted to focusing this year’s passing attack around Austin’s skill set and Fisher has gone as far as predicting the former West Virgina standout will double his production this season. Fisher may or may not be overly optimistic but if the Rams find more ways to get the ball into Tavon’s hands good things happen. When asked about Austin’s place in the new strategy Coach Fisher stated with excitement “This offense has been redesigned to make sure he gets touches of the football. He is going to have a big year this year.” (Los Angeles Daily News) The stars are aligned for Tavon Austin to emerge as a number one receiver in the National Football League and have the “breakout” season that has eluded him thus far.
Agamemnontavon is what he is. a multipurpose weapon. a better version of danny woodhead or darren sproles.
which isn’t bad. i think he could even get 1000+ yards from scrimmage this year and double digit tds this year (he had 9 tds last year).
but i think it’s gonna have to be one of higbee, cooper, or thomas to break out as a receiver. or maybe even britt.
Any idea how many of his big plays were called back for holding, or stupid bonehead plays on special teams? Just curious.
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Some computer genius like X
should do a vid on the big plays Tavon has had called back.He aint ever gonna be Jerry Rice as a WR, but i do
think he’s more than a ‘gadget’ player. I think this is
the year we find out how good a WR he can be. He doesn’t have
to learn a new system, so he should be able to concentrate
on route-running, and holding onto the ball.w
vYeah, agree on the non-Rice part. I think many of of the negative comments regarding Austin are made by individuals who are not taking into consideration the big plays not counted part. If some of those plays had counted, maybe he doesn’t rack up the bad press he’s been receiving.
So yeah, not a #1, but good enough to make other D’s uncomfortable.
From PFF
Jeff Fisher sees Tavon Austin catching 100 passes this year: Heading into year four of the Tavon Austin experiment, the Rams still don’t appear to have much idea what to do with the player they moved up aggressively in the first round of the 2013 draft to secure.
Austin has moved around on offense in an attempt to maximize his playmaking ability, but while 2015 was his best season, he still had just 907 yards from scrimmage to his name over the full season, or fewer than Kamar Aiken in Baltimore.
Jeff Fisher, at least, is bullish about his prospects, claiming he could double his reception total and notch over 100 passes in 2016. Four players topped 100 receptions in 2014, with seven managing it in 2015, and the league has never been more set up to produce catches by volume.
Austin caught 64.2 percent of the passes sent his way in 2015, meaning that, for him to top 100 catches this season at that same rate, he would need 156 targets, which would have been the sixth-highest total of 2015.
The issue for Austin is that the five players with more targets than that in 2015 are all outside, perimeter, unquestioned No. 1 targets for their offenses, and Austin can’t be that guy at his size. He needs to be the Jarvis Landry of his offense—a smaller, shifty receiver that can be reliable underneath and on quick passes, picking up yardage after the catch. Landry caught 110 passes in 2015, so that role can certainly achieve those numbers, but that isn’t how the Rams have been deploying Austin to date. He may be thought of as a slot receiver, but only 17 of his 81 targets (21.0 percent) came from the slot in 2015.
The Rams have been lining Austin up outside and then feeding him the ball on bubble screens and quick hitches with the occasional deep route worked in. Austin runs one of the most basic route trees in the NFL, and until that develops, there is little to no chance of him catching those 100 passes.
off the net from RamFan503
I think that Austin’s rushing total will be higher. In terms of catches, I think our receivers will be more productive AND so will TA. I just don’t buy that you bring in guys like TA and strive for a conservative offense. I personally think Fisher wants to open things up but the level of QB play and O-line problems have not allowed for it. Even if Keenum starts, he will be far more on the same page with his receivers this year than last so he will be able to hit more of them in stride. That will be huge for getting TA that room to make the first guy miss. From there, a lot can and does happen with TA.
So far, Austin has done inside runs, misdirection runs, jet sweeps, reverses, and bubble screens. All these plays get him the ball at or behind the line of scrimmage. Austin hasn’t done 10 yards outs, go routes, double moves, back-shoulder timing plays, zone floods, or jump balls.
Can he do the things he hasn’t done much so far? I would contend that he hasn’t been much of a factor with crossing routes and double moves because we haven’t had the QB play to take advantage of his ability there. On the few occasions we have, he either was able to burn defenses bad or draw what was or should have been PI calls. On deep balls, there is really nothing that indicates he can’t do just that. If Foles wouldn’t have thrown the ball too deep or out of bounds on a few of those plays, TA has his man beat easily. And TA did do the 10 yard out and stop route too but by the time the ball got there, the defender was wearing the same shoes as TA. Timing and the ability to get the ball in his hands in the right position had everything to do with those plays being blown up before they could get started. Getting him out in space isn’t only about play design or that others were not drawing defenders. The QB has to pull the trigger. It looked like Keenum was starting to get some of that down but that is not going to happen with 4 games left in the season and a new OC.
I saw a lot of plays just left on the field because the execution was extremely poor. It’s a big if but IF the players look like they are reading from the same playbook and the QB delivers the ball when and where it is supposed to be delivered, those plays can work. And a guy like TA can take any one of them to the house with just one mistake by the defense.
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