NFL rumors: Tavon Austin could be released by Los Angeles Rams
By Matt Conner
If Tavon Austin is released by the L.A. Rams, it could mean another experienced returner hits the open market at a time the Chiefs could use a good one.
Forget the Tavon Austin that you’ve known to this point.
Austin has never really existed, at least the version that the NFL created with visions of an unstoppable offensive force cast on draftniks and St. Louis Rams fans alike. When Austin was first selected at No. 8 overall in the 2013 NFL Draft, he was billed as an electric dynamo, a lightning fast player who could return kicks, rush the football and catch it out of the backfield to create mismatches at every level.
Fast forward five years and the Rams, now in Los Angeles, are apparently ready to cut their losses, even after having signed Austin to a 4-year, $42 million extension just 18 months ago. It was after the 2015 season, one in which Austin nearly had 1,000 yards from scrimmage (yeah that’s not that impressive considering Kareem Hunt nearly doubled Austin’s total this year). The Rams, however, were desperate. Maybe their dynamo was simply slower to develop.
Two seasons later, Austin is what he is—a well-rounded offensive player who can be a nice complement for a team. He will never live up to the draft billing. He will never match the marquee. He will never carry an offense or be the threat to score from anywhere, as Rams fans all dreamed he could be.
He is, however, a nice roster addition if the Rams let him hit the open market.
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An Austin signing wouldn’t do anything to fill a major hole for any team, and any franchise billing it as so would be misleading everyone. But for a team like the Kansas City Chiefs, Austin could make a lot of sense as a full-time returner and offensive option for a playbook that relies on sleight of hand.
De’Anthony Thomas will soon be a free agent. The Chiefs other options are Akeem Hunt, who somehow earned a two-year deal when he signed last September, and Jehu Chesson. Tyreek Hill is the primary punt returner, and Akeem Hunt is the primary kick returner. If the Chiefs want to keep both in place without making a move, they certainly can. But there’s a reason no one was talking about how dangerous the Chiefs were on kick returns last year. Hunt’s longest was 42 yards.
Tavon Austin has faded as a returner over the last few years as the Rams have used him less and less at the position—for the same reasons the Chiefs stopped putting Tyreek Hill out there to get potentially injured less as well. But if the Chiefs don’t need Austin to be Hill, he can go back to returning full-time while remaining available as a gadget sort of player in K.C.
Now what’s most likely here is that some team will overpay for Austin’s services, swayed by the fact that he was once a Top 10 pick. If any team wants to make Austin well-paid for his production offered, then more power to them. But if Austin languishes on the open market because he’s valued properly, as a returner-meets-offensive-complement, it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.