WVU great Tavon Austin announced his retirement from the NFL Tuesday, leaving many to reflect on his football career.
After putting up 1,932 yards and 15 touchdowns from scrimmage in his senior season in 2012, becoming a first-team All-American, Austin was selected eighth overall in the 2013 NFL draft by the then-St. Louis Rams. In his rookie season with STL, he racked up 418 receiving yards on 40 catches and four touchdowns while adding 151 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.
Austin would miss the final three games with an ankle injury. In his second year in the NFL in 2014, he would miss a game due to a knee sprain. Austin had his best season all-purpose-wise in the NFL in 2015, the year before the Rams moved to Los Angeles.
In 2015, Austin played in all 16 games, making 52 catches for 473 yards and five touchdowns and taking 52 carries for 434 yards and four touchdowns. His 2015 season led the Rams to pick up his fifth-year option for 2017 before the 2016 season and just before it started Austin signed a four-year extension with Los Angeles.
In 2016, Austin had another productive year, including his best season in terms of receiving yards. He racked up 509 yards and three touchdowns on 58 catches and 159 yards and a touchdown on the ground on 28 carries. 2017 was a down year for Tavon in the passing game as it was the first season of his career he finished with more rushing than receiving yards.
In the offseason leading to 2018, his four-year contract left with the Rams was converted into a one-year deal and a little over a month later he was traded to Dallas for a sixth-round pick in the upcoming draft. That season, Austin only played in seven games but had the best receiving averages of his career. He averaged 17.5 yards per catch and scored two touchdowns in that seven-game span.
Austin signed another one-year deal with the Cowboys to stay with them in 2019. He put similar numbers with one fewer touchdown in 2019 compared to his season before, playing seven more games. Entering his age 30 season, Austin signed with the San Francisco 49ers but dealt with injuries, later getting released midseason, before getting picked up by the Green Bay Packers. He played in the final five games of the season and caught just five passed for 20 yards.
Prior to the 2021 season, Austin signed a contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars in what would be his last season on an NFL active roster. He played in 13 games for the Jags and had 213 yards and a touchdown on 24 catches and 21 rushing yards on three carries. Buffalo would sign him that offseason, but release him before the season started, signing him back to their practice squad.
In all Austin spent nine years playing in the NFL, spending time with six different teams. In his career he had 2,239 receiving yards and 16 receiving yards touchdowns and 1,361 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. He also had three punt return touchdowns in his career.
