Why is Rams WR Tavon Austin's role seemingly shrinking? A personnel executive for another NFL team theorized: "Little receivers don't work with inaccurate quarterbacks."
Sam Bradford is a 58.4% career passer. He's been more efficient this season – 59.5% passing, 13 touchdowns, three interceptions, 90.7 rating – but never will be known for his accuracy.
Austin stands 5-foot-8 and 176 pounds. He leads the Rams with 24 catches but is averaging only 6.6 yards per reception, meaning he's mostly getting the ball near the line of scrimmage.
The bigger targets presented by Austin Pettis (6-3, 203), tight end Jared Cook (6-5, 254) and even Chris Givens (6-0, 203) are capable of creating more favorable matchups on the perimeter than Austin, who's best suited to the slot and is smallish even for that spot.
"You can get away with those guys if you have (Drew) Brees or (Tom) Brady," the executive said. "Of course, you can get away with a lot with those guys."
Austin is one of the disappointments in this year's fantasy world, mostly because he was pretty hyped up by the team in the offseason. Then the Rams said they were keeping him under wraps in preseason games, but he's obviously yet to be unwrapped this season. According to this story, he's just not a good match with Bradford. Not a good sign for the future either.
