There has been some chatter around Tavon Austin today due to comments from Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer about expanding the use of Ausin this year.

This should be of no surprise since Austin was barely used last year, especially for a player of his athleticism and a top 10 pick.

The only question really is how much more of an impact will we actually see of Austin compared to 2013.

He had a decent rookie season stat wise: 40 receptions and 4 touchdowns receiving. You can also add one rushing TD and one punt return TD this this tally.

Austin accomplished these numbers with Sam Bradford as his QB for only seven games. These were also the first seven NFL games of Austin’s career and he admits he was a bit overwhelmed. “It was a pretty big adjustment for me at first. The playbook was different. The speed of the game was different. I eventually caught on and the game settled down.”

Now that Austin has learned the playbook, the speed of the game, his routes, built some trust and chemistry with his QB and coaches he can go back to playing and reacting and not thinking so much. This is where he creates results on the field, in high school and college he could rely on pure athleticism to make plays and not think at all, in the NFL he needs to rely on all of the little things that help make an athletic player a great NFL player.

Schottenheimer told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.“You’ll see us hand him the ball, do some different things. He’s playing so much faster just because he knows what we’re doing. He has the system down cold.”

Look for Tavon Austin to make a major leap forward in his sophomore season as the team figures out how to use his athletic ability to create mismatches on an offense that lacks playmakers.

I would look for at least 60 catches and 8 touchdowns on offense this season. Austin is a good mid-round value pick, don’t reach too high for him but in the mid to late rounds he can be a steal. Don’t be surprised if at the end of the season he has a better stat line then Andre Johnson, Eric Decker, Golden Tate, Michael Floyd, Kendall Wright, Sammy Watkins or Roddy White, all of whom are consistently ranked higher than Austin in FF polls this off-season.

*Update 8/25/14 - With Sam Bradford out for the season Tavon Austin’s numbers will be unpredictable. The Rams who are a run first team will now almost completely rely on the run and their defense to survive this season.