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LMU93
The top three WRs are entrenched as Watkins, Woods and Kupp. Beyond those three the Rams need a 4th WR that can play situationally- ideally a deep threat guy. If either Reynolds or Thomas becomes that role player then Austin really does become a luxury. Sounds like he could be used in the 3rd down RB role that Dunbar clearly now isn't going to take. Maybe some other gadget plays, jet sweeps, etc. But if- a big IF- Reynolds and/or Thomas show up well the next three preseason games, do the Rams consider trading Austin? I think it could very much be a consideration.
In other words, IMO, you use Austin the way he was used in 2015, when he got 9 TDs on offense. Only with this difference--in 2015 he did it without a Watkins or Kupp or Woods opening up space for him. With Watkins etc that way of using Tavon promises to be even more effective than it was in 2015. I will go further than that. IMO McVay would be crazy not to take advantage of that.
McVay himself has been saying as much:
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from Rams Head Coach Sean McVay – August 13, 2017
I think the biggest thing that I would say is that you want to be mindful of getting your playmakers touches. Tavon is one of our good playmakers. When the ball is in his hands, good things happen. We’ve got to do a good job as a coaching staff of finding creative ways, whether that be through the pass game with him as him as a receiver, the jet sweeps, the screens, the runs – just getting him those touches. There’s a reason why he’s had such good production throughout the course of his career and I know a lot of it is predicated on when the ball is on his hands, he’s able to create afterwards.”
He's describing 2015.
Now after this, they have hard choices. Tavon may be a luxury if your goal is to extend Watkins. But that's equally true of a lot of other good players like Joyner and Alexander. Teams as a rule or generally speaking keep 8-10 high contract players who take up about 50-55% of the cap. If it gets to be more than that then it spells trouble in building a good roster. That always means there's hard choices about who the 8-10 should be. Tavon probably will be one of the losses next year but then he won't be the only one.
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2017 05:08AM by zn.
