Pre-Draft Dynasty WR Rankings Countdown—No. 7
Bill Byrne, Featured Analyst, Rosterwatch.com

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7. Tavon Austin, West Virginia 5’ 8 1⁄2”, 174 pounds, 4.34 –

The first thing people notice about Austin is that he is like greased lightning – quick, fast, and elusive. But what I really loved when watching video of his game was his aggressive, running back-like mindset. Austin’s game is decisive and attacking. You won’t see him dancing when he has the ball. He excels at seeing the field in front of him, using his downfield blockers and he is extremely difficult to tackle when he gets open in space. In fact, at West Virginia he often was used as a running back out of the pistol. In one game (against Oklahoma), he accounted for an amazing 344 yards as a runner on 21 carries.

Even though he’s slender, he displays good upper body strength and has uncanny ability to get yards after contact. Given his frame, the fact that he lifted 225 pounds 14 times at the Combine was just incredible. He reminds me of some mixture of Percy Harvin, Dexter McCluster, and Steve Smith, except that he is even smaller than any of these.

His small stature and lack of bulk does figure to present a problem. Let’s be realistic. How many NFL receivers can you name who are less than 175 pounds and who have had any significant fantasy impact over any meaningful timeframe?

Assuming that his body can take the pounding, even with his elite quickness and legitimate breakaway speed, there are some elements to his game where he’s going to be a liability. For instance, he is simply too small to make much impact as a downfield blocker. And while he is normally a sure-handed receiver, he has dropped his share of easy passes because he was anticipating a hit from the defender ready to pop him.

Austin will be used in the return game, but for the right team he has a real chance to become that special slot receiver. Austin didn’t run the full route tree for West Virginia. He was mainly used on slants, screens and stick routes underneath. He had the ability to run precise routes, change direction and break out so quickly that he often got open at will against man coverage. He also stands outs against zone coverage, because he very quickly finds the coverage holes and sits in the space between defenders. And he obviously has the world-class speed to take the top off the coverage as well.

Austin is a playmaker who NFL opponents should need to account for on every play, because he represents a potential six points every time he touches the football. He will need to be drafted onto just the right NFL team to maximize both his fantasy football effectiveness and his NFL longevity. Sadly, few NFL coaches will have the creativity to use him as much more than an undersized slot receiver.