It doesn't hurt to be small

[Red_Chaos]

Wes Welker 5'9
DeSean Jackson 5'10
Steve Smith 5'9
Torry Holt 6'0
Isaac Bruce 6'0


Ray Rice 5'8
Maurice Jones-Drew 5'7
Antoine Winfield 5'9
Darren Sproles 5'6

You can say what you want but all these guys have had successful careers besides not being super tall

 

[Clayton]

Combine numbers for perspective:

Danny Amendola was 5'10" 185lbs
Desean Jackson was 5'10" 169lbs
Tavon Austin is 5'8" 174lbs

Dola ran 4.58 40, 13 reps on the bench, broad jump 8'7"
Desean ran 4.35 40, ?? reps on the bench, broad jump 10'2"
Austin ran a 4.34 40, 14 reps on the bench, broad jump 10'0"

He compares very closely to Desean Jackson except with a little more strength. He could certainly be put in the slot like Amendola but teams are going to have to cover him with a CB.

 

[RAM-N-IT]

This kid is going to be something special for the RAMS.

 

[fastforward]

Austin's height probably won't be an issue. On the plus side he closer to the ground so he can catch and go down quicker. :rollseyes: Just kidding. His frame and durability are an obvious concern.There are several traits you need to be successful as a WR in the NFL:

• The ability to beat press coverage off the line.
• The ability to catch passes with a defender draped all over you.
• The ability to read defenses and get to the right spot at the right time.

If he has those abilities and he's smart enough to protect himself his size won't be that important. I still don't think he was worth trading up to #8 for.

 

[Clayton]

• The ability to beat press coverage off the line.
• The ability to catch passes with a defender draped all over you.
• The ability to read defenses and get to the right spot at the right time.

He has #2 and has #3 in spades. I don't think he has #1 but he is so fast that I don't think Bradford can out throw him.

Looking at his highlights, its painful to watch Geno Smith throw. I think thats part of the reason WV used him at running back so much.

 

[demiurge]

Couple of things -

The new rules of 'unable to hit a defenseless WR' is really going to help bring Smurfs back into the league. And Austin is the smurfiest smurf of them all.

He's been INCREDIBLY durable to this point. Obviously that will be tested in the NFL, but he missed one practice and no games at WVU - so of 452 football related events at WVU (practices and games), he attended 451 of them. He never missed a game or practice at the high school level.

So there's some hope that he will be on the field on a regular basis.

As to usage, he'll be all over the place would be my take - he SHREDDED Oklahoma this year, breaking the BIG12 total yardarge mark by 200 yards. Oklahoma isn't what it was, but that isn't Ball State by any means.

I don't think he'll be the answer at WR, but he'll be one of the answers, and he'll make a huge impact on ST and as a change of pace back.

 

[Retroram52]

Demiurge: AS you stated, Austin will probably be a component to a cumulative effect against defenses with the 6-7 WRS we now have. Austin with Givens who also has deep-threat speed combined with Pettis, Quick, and the repetoire we now have at TE makes the cumulative effect on O pretty lethal.

 

[bluepigpen]

demiurge, 1st I wanted Austin bad as did Fisher I guess, I didn't think we had to trade up that far but the Jets by many accounts were set to take him so Fisher pulled the trigger. I agree this guy might line up anywhere as did Harvin with the Vikings. I found it very interesting that Fisher took Stedman Bailey in the 3rd. I read that both Rams backup QBs worked out Austin and Bailey just a couple of weeks ago and as much as they loved Austin, they wanted Bailey also. Because he didn't have the name recognization that Austin had, they felt that he would last until they could draft him with the pick in the 4th. When the Rams got the second 3rd back with the trade of picks with the Falcons they new it was time to draft him with that pick. Their time together at West Virginia will only help both of them. The videos of both these guys is special all by itself.

 

[Clayton]

Ive heard some people knock the trade up saying that the Jets were just pulling a smokescreen to get the Rams to trade up but that doesn't make any sense because the Bills are in their division and they aren't going to help a team in their division stockpile picks to get a CB that the Bills wouldn't have taken if they stayed there. I think the Jets legitimately wanted to draft Tavon Austin.

 

[bluepigpen]

 

[Jermaine133]

• The ability to beat press coverage off the line.
• The ability to catch passes with a defender draped all over you.
• The ability to read defenses and get to the right spot at the right time.

I agree with that 100%..in addition to that Holt and Bruce were avg sizes for WR at 6'0. Marvin Harrison was 6'0 as well, and I believe Jerry Rice was too. The above mentioned statements are more important than their height.

 

[Clayton]

I'm pretty sure the Cardinals drafted Tyrann Matheiu because the Rams drafted Austin and the Seahawks have Harvin. Midget just might be a position in the NFC West.

 

[RamCub]

Clayton - Also the reason the Whiner's traded up for my man Eric Reid! Oh well, we have Tim McDonald (remember Pat Terrellible) to chase down Seattle's Percy Harvin and the Whiner's Quinton Patton.

 

[Clayton]

Here are some interesting combine numbers:

Stedman Bailey 5'10" 193lbs, 4.52 40 time, 6.81 3 cone drill, 11 reps
Danny Amendola 5'10" 185lbs, 4.58 40 time, 6.81 3 cone drill, 13 reps

Kiper said Bailey had the best hands in the draft. Is Bailey Amendola's replacement?

 

[bluepigpen]

That is possible Clayton, I think the combinations the Rams are going to use for Austin include out of the backfield, in motion, spread out and some reverse stuff. Bailey may very well be the slot guy. It will be interesting come training camp.

 

[mutigers1fan]

Clayton, Bailey may be 1 of the steals of this draft when we look back in 5 years. I think he'll get more of the underneath assignments and Austin will be used on the outside quite a bit. The extra speed he has makes size a little less important because he can run away from defenders. All of a sudden this offense is built around speed.

 

[Clayton]

All of a sudden this offense is built around speed.

And it needs to be. We should play like a dome team on offense so we can build a home field advantage.

That said, the division is still about running the football. Hopefully our speed at RB will break some big runs.

 

[mutigers1fan]

I'm not sure how I feel about building a "home field advantage" in that manner. It comes with an attached road field disadvantage when playing outdoors. I do like building around speed however because speed will become more and more important as the NFL continues to legislate physicality out of the game.

 

[Vitamike]

Ive heard some people knock the trade up saying that the Jets were just pulling a smokescreen to get the Rams to trade up but that doesn't make any sense because the Bills are in their division and they aren't going to help a team in their division stockpile picks to get a CB that the Bills wouldn't have taken if they stayed there. I think the Jets legitimately wanted to draft Tavon Austin.

Makes since to me Clayton. We all know they had their sights on Geno Smith and the Smith to Austin connection worked well at West Virginia, didn't it?

That would have been a coup!

 

[Clayton]

I'm not sure how I feel about building a "home field advantage" in that manner. It comes with an attached road field disadvantage when playing outdoors. I do like building around speed however because speed will become more and more important as the NFL continues to legislate physicality out of the game.

The biggest improvement we could do in outdoor games is to improve our field position (worst in the NFL), stop committing penalties (worst in the NFL) and get Legatron back on track. From there, our defense should be fine regardless.