Rams with the 8th select Tavon Austin

photo courtesy of  nfl.si.com

Josh Inglis

@B2Bsportsinglis


In the 2013 NFL draft the St Louis Rams have traded away their 16th, 46th, 78th, and 222nd picks to the Toronto Buffalo Bills for their 8th and 71st.  The Rams then used that 8th overall pick and selected West Virginia hybrid WR Tavon Austin.  Austin was the first "skilled" position player taken in the draft, as the first 7 picks were O-line men or D-line men.

St Louis makes the most sense as current quarterback Sam Bradford was looking at a 3 player receiving core that caught a combined 83 balls for 1115 yards (Givens, Quick, Pettis out are Amendola and Gibson) and a back field of Daryl Richardson and Isaiah Pead (Steven Jackson to ATL) that, together, had 708 TOTAL yards from scrimmage.  Needless to say, the Rams made the right move to get someone who can hopefully contribute immediately.

At  5' 8"and 174 ilbs, Austin isn't an ideal size for an NFL receiver but his ability to line up anywhere on the field and his ability to take it to the house on any touch makes him the most explosive offensive weapon in this years shallow draft.

Feel free to use the first overall pick in your dynasty leagues on Tavon, I don't think I will be getting him at 1.03.  Also, Tavon should be the first rookie off the board in this years Re-drafts.  I'll go out on a limb and say an ADP of 98.

Here is some further proof of his ceiling courtesy of Drew Silva on twitter @drewsilv