The Los Angeles Rams have agreed to extension with wide receiver Tavon Austin, but that could end up coming back to bite the franchise.
The Los Angeles Rams made one of their biggest moves today since moving to California. According to Ian Rapport of NFL Network, the Rams have signed Tavon Austin to a four-year extension that will be valued at almost $42 million.
#Rams extension with WR Tavon Austin is for 4 years and worth $42 million with $30 million in guarantees, source said. 6 years total deal
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 27, 2016
He will make $30 million dollars in guarantees as well. The Rams are making a major mistake by committing that much money to Austin. It will likely come back to bite them as he has not been a major factor during his career.
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In three seasons since being taken eighth overall in the 2013 NFL Draft, Austin has not been very successful. He only has logged 123 receptions and his career high in receiving yards for a season is a lowly 473. Granted, he has been a weapon in the running game, he has averaged 8.3 yards per carry over 97 career attempts, but most of the yardage has come on gadget plays. Austin has some explosiveness, but he is simply too inconsistent to warrant this kind of money.
To put this in perspective, Austin is being paid roughly $10.5 million per season over the course of his contract. According to Spotrac, that would make him the 12th-highest paid receiver in the league overall, based off of average salary. This puts him ahead of the likes of Green Bay’s Jordy Nelson, the New York Jets’ Brandon Marshall and Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown. Simply put, Austin is not nearly as good as the other players on the list.
Via Spotrac, Austin’s guaranteed money ranks fifth in the NFL among wide receivers. That is only slightly below the amount that Cincinnati Bengals wideout A.J. Green is making, and it is also ahead of T.Y. Hilton (Colts) and Doug Baldwin (Seahawks). Again, Austin is not anywhere close in talent level and production to these players so he should not be making as much money as them.
This is another blemish on the record of head coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead. That said, it is surprising that the Rams are looking into giving the duo an extension (according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk). The Rams are probably not going to be very good over the course of the next few years, and extending Austin will not help them.
More nfl spin zone: Jeff Fisher Right to be Patient With Jared Goff
Yes, retaining Austin will give Jared Goff a veteran weapon to work with, but this contract is still ridiculous.