Tavon Austin's NFL career fell victim to timing

Former Rams first-round pick Tavon Austin announced his retirement from football this week. After a professional career spanning nine years and earnings of over $40 million, there’s only one word that can describe Austin: success.

There’s no doubt that Austin has done more than enough to improve the quality of life for himself, his family, and he has done the football world a service simply by playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played.

The streets will never forget Austin or his beloved mixtape of collegiate highlights. The true football fanatics like myself, the sickos, we love Tavon Austin. He was the perfect mix of raw talent, desire and courage.

The only mark against him is that his professional career failed to mimic the glory of his time at West Virginia. When Austin came into the league, he was a utility player who excelled as a receiver, running back, and returner. A modern Eric Metcalf, Austin was supposed to be the next big star in St. Louis.

However, he faced insurmountable obstacles from within the organization. Austin came into a team that hadn’t enjoyed a winning season in a decade. On top of that, his head coach Jeff Fisher and his offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer believed in a more traditional, simplistic offense that Austin was a horrible fit for.

To make things even worse, starting QB Sam Bradford would suffer a torn ACL seven games into Austin’s rookie year. Bradford would never play a regular-season game for the Rams again.

To add a little more misery to what could’ve been, Austin ended his senior season at West Virginia with 72 carries for 643 yards. Austin ended his rookie season with nine total carries. Yes, nine. He averaged 16.8 yards per carry in those attempts.

The Rams’ leading rusher in 2013? Seventh-round rookie Zac Stacy with 250 carries. The second leading rusher? 2012 seventh-round pick Daryl Richardson with 69. The Rams’ coaching staff never gave Austin the chance to shine.

However, Austin was named to the PFWA All-Rookie team and was expected to break out in 2014. Austin would once again get Jeff Fisher’ed and be deprived of opportunities – a theme throughout his career.

Austin was most dangerous with the ball in his hands. This was made evident by the fact he had a punt return touchdown in each of his first three seasons. And while opportunities came later in his career, it seemed as if the spark that he once displayed wasn’t there anymore.

It was made clear time and time again that Austin and Fisher were never on the same page and Austin’s play suffered as a result. Austin would play one more year in Los Angeles with Sean McVay but at that point, he was already out the door.

If Austin had a coach like McVay for the majority of his career or came into the league a little bit later, who knows what could’ve been. Receiving backs like Austin are worth their weight in gold.

While Austin’s best season totaled 907 yards from scrimmage, players like Austin Ekeler and Alvin Kamara have gone over the 1,500-yard mark in their careers.

While Austin has nothing to be ashamed of, the lingering thought of “what if?” permeates the legend that is Tavon Austin. What if he was drafted by another team? What if he had a different coaching staff? What if he wasn’t made to just be a receiver? We’ll never know.

What we do know is that every time Austin put on his Rams uniform, he showed up and showed out in the only way he knew how. Fisher did have something right about Austin when he said that Tavon has two speeds. Fast and sleep.

Whenever he wasn’t sleeping, Austin was ready to fly. And when called upon, he did.