The expectations surrounding Tavon Austin heading into the season were extremely high. The St. Louis Rams traded up from No. 16 to No. 8 in order to land the former West Virginia Star. However, through five weeks in the season, Austin has yet to truly deliver on that investment. While not all of the blam can be placed on the rookie as the Rams in general are struggling, he says he is not frustrated with the team and stands by quarterback Sam Bradford.
Heading into Week 6, Austin has 23 catches for 156 yards and two touchdowns. While some receivers would love those numbers, for Austin they are relatively small. He is averaging just 6.8 yards per catch and 3.4 yards on punt returns. His game against the Jaguars was certainly not his best. He dropped two key passes while having a 72-yard punt return called back for illegal blocking. No matter, Austin says he is not frustrated with how the season is panning out.
"I definitely was not frustrated," Austin said, via the Associated Press. "I just got up and I had family outside. I wasn't frustrated at all. We got the win and that's all that matters."
Austin was a jack of all trades in college. He put up 1,289 yards off 114 catches in his final season with the Mountaineers. That is the reason he was selected so high in the draft. The slow start has yet to set off any sort of alarms with his teammates or head his head coach. Instead, Bradford says he really likes what he sees in Austin through this point in the season.
"I think he's making progress," Bradford said. "I think if you ask him, he's probably frustrated. I know that his role here is probably a little bit different than that we pictured and what he was used to at West Virginia. I've been impressed with him. I think that he continues to try to get better each week on the practice field. I think as long as he keeps at it, eventually he will grow into that role where he probably expected to be."
Jeff Fisher plans on increasing the opportunities for Austin no matter what kind of numbers the receiver is putting up. The head coach knows the rookie has plenty of potential that will show itself over time. He pointed out that without penalties by teammates, Austin would have had 254 return yards. That should make fantasy owners feel better.
