Tavon Austin’s future production has been hyped up before

For almost a week now the internet has been ripe with Tavon Austin reactions and debates.

A video of Stephen Jones from the Cowboys post-draft press conference made the rounds, particularly because in it he speculated at the potential production Tavon Austin could have in Dallas.

Obviously a dozen to two dozen touches per game is absurd. The likelihood is that Stephen Jones misspoke (if he didn’t, strap up), but again, welcome to the internet.

It’s fair that Stephen would be excited about what Tavon Austin brings to a football team just after trading for him. Tavon brings a potentially unique skillset, if you believe in offensive coordinator Scott Linehan’s ability to utilize him, your mind can run away.

Looking through the SB Nation history books over at Turf Show Times, Tavon Austin has been hyped up by his team before. Two years ago then-Rams head coach Jeff Fisher had some words of his own concerning the all-purpose receiver.

If Fisher is sincere about the Rams’ interest in getting Austin - who’s a threat to take it to the house every time he touches the ball - that much more involved in the offense in 2016, that would imply he’d get somewhere in the ballpark of 100 catches this year.

At the time Tavon was coming off of a season that saw him targeted 87 times. Fisher was truthful in that the Rams did use him more, he had 106 passes thrown his way after these comments.

The season in question was 2016 when the Rams were first in Los Angeles and fell apart, so again we’re not looking to repeat history or anything here. But it is interesting to note that a previous executive connected to Tavon Austin pumped up his potential usage and that he saw a career high in targets.

The Cowboys look to use Tavon more in the run game than passing game, so 100 targets seems a little farfetched. Maybe they’ll collective get him 100 touches including special teams; Tavon saw a career-high 59 rushing attempts just last season under Sean McVay.