What can Dallas Cowboys expect from Tavon Austin

 

The sixth round came and the Dallas Cowboys decided to pull the trigger on a guy offensive coordinator Scott Linehan claimed he had wanted back when he was with the Detroit Lions the day that guy was drafted.

Tavon Austin was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for their sixth-round pick (192nd overall). Earlier in the draft, the Cowboys selected Colorado State wideout Michael Gallup, who is now being described as a potential steal and eventual number one receiver for the Cowboys. So why make the move and get Austin to a receiving corps that already is quite long?

Because quite simply, Austin won’t be part of it. The Cowboys brought him to add a new element to their offensive attack, and that starts in the backfield.

“They view Tavon Austin as a running back, similar to what Lance Dunbar did. They expect a lot of creativity out of the backfield now,” said Ian Rapoport from the NFL Network.

If you weren’t familiar with Tavon Austin, you can familiarize yourself with senior highlight film from West Virginia:

The bottom line is that Austin and the Los Angeles Rams never got the production and role solidified that each side was expecting.

		Receiving				Rushing
Year	Games	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Rush	Yds	TD	Y/A
2013	13	40	418	10.5	4	9	151	1	16.8
2014	15	31	242	7.8	0	36	224	2	6.2
2015	16	52	473	9.1	5	52	434	4	8.3
2016	15	58	509	8.8	3	28	159	1	5.7
2017	16	13	47	3.6	0	59	270	1	4.6
Career	75	194	1689	8.7	12	184	1238	9	6.7

So how do the Cowboys expect to deliver on the promising talent and attributes that Tavon has at his disposal? They plan to use him as a “web back”, very similar to some of the ways Dunbar was used while has with the team. Essentially they will find ways to put him in the formation and allow him to create mismatches and deliver on his home-run talent.

The Dallas Cowboys running back, you can argue, may be at his most promising heading into the 2018 season. You have All-Pro and third year running back Ezekiel Elliott and Rod Smith as well to spell Elliott for breathers. The Cowboys also drafted Bo Scarbrough out of the University of Alabama, who is a big bruising running back the Cowboys can deploy in short yardage or goal line situations.

Then there is Austin. Head coach Jason Garrett went into what he can bring:

“He was the eight player taken in the draft in 2013. We see him as a guy who can be versatile for us. When we played the Rams this year, they lined him up as a running back. They tried to hand it to him and throw it to him throughout the year. He certainly is a dynamic guy. We felt like for the value, he could come into our football team and help us add some explosiveness.”