Will McVay find a way to get some value from Tavon ... assuming he remains on the roster?
Sure.
But I absolutely do not believe that he will employ Tavon in "the same role" that he had in the past. Because McVay is not running a Fisher offense. As I have argued ad nauseum, McVay has other priorities than to figure out how to give a jolt to a moribund offense with some jet sweep gadgets.
To me, the key line is that it was HOPED that TA would BECOME a downfield threat. That says 2 things:
- Vertical passing to people doing what good WRs do is important to McVay.
- McVay saw that Tavon did NOT do that in the past and could only HOPE that he might START to do it.
Then, the article pulls the rug out by acknowledging there is less need for this now that we have Sammy and, perhaps, Reynolds along with Woods and Kupp. That's the fact. There is really no downfield WR void for Tavon to try to fill any more. We don't need that.
Which leaves ... gadgetry. Actually, I may amend my point slightly. Tavon MAY OCCASIONALLY run gadget plays that might well be successful as change of pace plays. But their success would be based on their coming along less often and in the context of an offense that was achieving legitimate success with the standard fundamentals: downfield passes and an effective running game.
If Tavon is to have any value, in my view it lies in a role similar to what he's done in the past. But I don't believe for a second that McVay values that role very highly, will turn to it far less often, and will prioritize the sort of contribution that many other players have to offer. Tavon will pick up some scraps from the table.
I don't believe McVay is wasting much time fretting about Tavon coming back healthy. He has a lot of better tools to use in building his vision.
