Los Angeles Rams: Tavon Austin Deal Shows Speed Overvalued

The Los Angeles Rams know that armed Jared Goff with weapons will be the key to their future success in pursuing a Super Bowl.

To that end they decided to ensure the first step in that mission by locking up wide receiver Tavon Austin to a contract extension. It’s a new four-year deal that will amount to $42 million and $30 million in guarantees. That will lock him up through 2021, ensuring he and Goff are together for years to come. The problem is what exactly has Austin done to earn such a deal?

It’s no secret why he was drafted in the first place. Austin displayed a rare level of speed that had teams drooling when he came out of college. In the end it was the Rams who got there first, but since then they’ve displayed a clear lacking ability to make him effective on offense. Last year represented his best as a receiver, notching 52 catches for 473 yards and five touchdowns. Hardly what one would call inspiring numbers. Austin did also had another 434 yards rushing with four touchdowns but even so it doesn’t quite validate this new money.

He continues to have problems securing the football. In addition to frequent issues with dropped passes, he also fumbled three times. Nothing about him has said “superstar.” Perhaps this is further proof that speed is considerably overvalued in the NFL. There is no denying it can be lethal when utilized properly, but there have been several cases over the years of players who could run fast being unable to do more than that.

Tavon Austin isn’t quite that bad, but it’s hard to justify him being worth over $10 million a year. Maybe Jared Goff will change that once he matures into the quarterback they expect, but if it hasn’t happened by now, is it reasonable to expect it ever will? Just goes to show that any player coming out of college needs to know one thing above all.

If you can run really fast, teams will pay lots of money. It won’t matter if you play the game of football well or not.