Tavon is a unique talent. His highlight reel plays are pretty special. He is Percy Harvin, but with a good attitude.
Listen to interviews of opposing teams HCs and DCs and D players and typically the guy they had to pay most attention to was Austin because he could take it to the house at any moment.
A guy doesn't have to have a zillion touches to make an impact. If by formation and scheme you can get favorable match ups, Austin is super scary. Rams seemed to not be able to take full advantage of that until now.
How many long plays and even TDs of his have been called back on account of dumb penalties? I don't know the number, but it was several.
Do I see him as DeShaun Jackson? No way. But I think using him like Jackson in the sense that this is the guy the Rams want to take the top off the defense and stretch the field vertically makes sense. Tavon may not have the biggest catch radius, nor is he a guy who catches difficult balls or even contested balls; but he doesn't drop routine throws either. I'd give him a "C" for hands; in other words, average for an NFL WR. But he is an A+ for speed, an A for RAC, and an A- for quickness. And he is a playmaker always looking to make something happen. He brings a lot of excitement and sure puts the D on alert.
So yes, there are downsides. And yes, to pay him the 2nd contract money they did doesn't sound like a good allocation of cap space to me. But, that doesn't minimize what Tavon CAN do, and if McVay is who I think he is, he's not going to ask Austin to be Jackson or to be things he's not; but rather just to accomplish a similar role as Jackson which is to provide a true deep threat that must seriously be accounted for. And BTW: did Jackson line up the backfield and run through the Tackles like Austin can and does? The thing about Austin is that he can line up in a lot of places and be effective, so he can be utilized more. Putting him in as the RB doesn't necessarily signal a pass; they have been just as likely to hand it off.
But it sounds like they want to use him on the outside more and more and very likely use a larger slot Receiver like Cooper or Kupp. But the reality is that if the TE offense is going to work, you MUST have somebody who can stretch the field vertically or it'll be too congested near the LOS. Austin can do that, and perhaps someday Reynolds.
