Tavon Austin scares me

[Oviedo]

Of all the 'high round' WR's available Chadman would take Markus Wheaton in Round 2 as the preference, or if his character holds up- DaRick Rogers.


Starting to wish that Arians drafts Eifert at Arizona & buries him on the depth chart.

You're talking Arians not LeBeau. Arians actually lets players play and doesn't impose two year blackout periods on a talented player getting on the field.

[Oviedo]

I would be willing to wager that Eifert & Ertz are both gone by our 2nd pick (unless we trade).

That is absolutley the case. Eifert will be gone in Round 1 and Ertz will be gone before the 10th pick in Round 2.

[supersteeler]

I would be willing to wager that Eifert & Ertz are both gone by our 2nd pick (unless we trade).

I agree, but maybe the Football Gods step in like last year when we picked up DeCasrto and we land one of them.
Eifert would elevate our offense, but some here feel we have the great Mark Bavarro and Dave Casper already on the roster with Spaeth and Paulson.

[ramblinjim]

You know, Paulson played well last year, it's hard to knock a 7th round pick for getting on the field and making a few plays his rookie year. That's not bad. I read somewhere where Ertz had small hands, then I thought "didn't Sweed have small hands". I did some research, sure enough he did. Now that doesn't mean Ertz won't be a great pro, Limas had some pretty serious issues but it does make me wonder a little bit.

[supersteeler]

You know, Paulson played well last year, it's hard to knock a 7th round pick for getting on the field and making a few plays his rookie year. That's not bad. I read somewhere where Ertz had small hands, then I thought "didn't Sweed have small hands". I did some research, sure enough he did. Now that doesn't mean Ertz won't be a great pro, Limas had some pretty serious issues but it does make me wonder a little bit.

Eifert is the only TE worth taking early, the concern with Ertz is
Very short arms (31 3/4 inches) for his height - limited catch radius

[Jooser]

Jooser and pfelix72 are the only two people in this thread I agree with. Everyone else is wrong. If you are afraid of Tavon Austin it should be because another team drafted him and you now have to deal with him. Everyone here concerned about his durability and his size are just plain wrong. That is no an opinion. It is a fact.

Ding Ding Ding! Not to hijack this thread back onto what the original subject was...but, let me predicate my position by stating that I am not necessarily advocating for Austin in round one, but to be scared of this pick is ludicrous. He's a multi-dimensional type of player who can be your slot guy or your out of the backfield "change of pace" guy. He keeps the chains moving and and can strike for a TD from anywhere. The proof is in the pudding folks.

The only people tackling him are his teammates in the endzone. No he isn't too tall, and no he isn't a big bodied receiver, but what he is...IS ELECTRIC !

[Jooser]

I wouldn't touch Austin in round 1. But I do see the NFL changing and WRs have all the advantage. Technically, no one should be able to touch him and he is electrifying, but still, someone would touch him and he could easily be done that one hit.

I do think someone will end up taking him in round 1 for that very reason. Probably the Pats.

Yeah, you could make that argument about anyone in the draft...they were all just competing against college competition before....

[calmkiller]

Tavon Austin's Stats against top level teams with players in the NFL that he will meet or has already met on the field. This is just a small sample and I left most of the Big East teams off the list.

Date	OPP	Result	Rec	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	Rush Att	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD
10/6/12	Texas	W 48-45	10	102	10.2	40	1	1	6	6	6	0
10/20/12	KSU	L 49-14	6	34	5.7	11	1	0	0	0	0	0
11/17/12	OU	L 50-49	4	82	20.5	41	0	21	344	16.4	74	2
9/24/11	LSU	L 47-21	11	187	17.0	72	0	0	0	0	0	0
1/4/12	Clemson	W 70-33	12	123	10.3	37	4	3	40	13.3	23	0
10/29/11	Rutgers	W 41-31	8	67	8.4	20	1	2	96	48	80	1

With that said I am not saying the Steelers need to draft him in the first round. We will go Defense this year, but if it were to happen for some reason, I would have zero concern about it. Stedman Bailey in the third would be a good WR pick up for us.

[blacknblue80s]

IMO if the defensive players we are interested in are off the board we could easily go WR or... even TE. IMO, it will be BPA in round 1.

My name is Blacknblue80s and I am not afraid of Tavon Austin.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

You're talking Arians not LeBeau. Arians actually lets players play and doesn't impose two year blackout periods on a talented player getting on the field.

Ov, I think that Chadman's point is that TEs aren't given a chance to produce in Arians' offense.

[Jooser]

Yeah, I'd rather have a TE to block and catch the occasional TD over some LBers vs having this LIGHTNING ROD....(shakes head). Was Emmitt Smith or Warick Dunn too small? How about Barry Sanders?

[flippy]

Yeah, you could make that argument about anyone in the draft...they were all just competing against college competition before....

He's 170lbs. It's 100x more likely he's gonna get hurt than other players with size.

I like the kid, but realistically he should be a 3-5 round pick. No way should we be talking about him as a 1st rounder. If he's a first rounder, he better return 3x as many kicks for TDs as Devon Hester.

[calmkiller]

He's 170lbs. It's 100x more likely he's gonna get hurt than other players with size.

I like the kid, but realistically he should be a 3-5 round pick. No way should we be talking about him as a 1st rounder. If he's a first rounder, he better return 3x as many kicks for TDs as Devon Hester.

Hester was a DB coming out of college. He didn't really fit anywhere on the D or O side of the ball. If I remember correctly people were down on his defensive skills. His return ability was never really questioned. That is why he lasted until the third round. No one is questioning Tavon's offensive ability. The only thing everyone here is saying is he is to small, which is the dumbest argument anyone here can make. Duce Staley was 5'11 and 242 lbs and he couldn't stay on the field. There are just as many examples of smaller players being judged incorrectly because of their size. It is pure ignorance.

[flippy]

Hester was a DB coming out of college. He didn't really fit anywhere on the D or O side of the ball. If I remember correctly people were down on his defensive skills. His return ability was never really questioned. That is why he lasted until the third round. No one is questioning Tavon's offensive ability. The only thing everyone here is saying is he is to small, which is the dumbest argument anyone here can make. Duce Staley was 5'11 and 242 lbs and he couldn't stay on the field. There are just as many examples of smaller players being judged incorrectly because of their size. It is pure ignorance.

Who was the last 170lber to be drafted at 17?

The kid is an injury waiting to happen. He just doesn't have an NFL body. Sure you can take a chance with a much later pick, but it'd be silly to pick him early.

Doug Flutie was an awesome college player, but he didn't have the size for the NFL. No knock on him. Maybe he makes it if given a legit chance, but odds are against it so he never gets a break. Drew Brees is a tiny guy that's done great. But why risk it? Of course as you get later in the draft and there's no guarantees on any player you pick, that's when you can take a chance.

I just think it's crazy to consider a guy this small in the first round.

[papillon]

Based on his highlight reel in this thread one thing is for sure he is dangerous in the open field. In the receiving portion of the his highlights he always seemed to be wide open. He made one back shoulder catch on the goal line and gained enough separation on a shallow crossing pattern, but other than that he was typically wide open or behind the defense. While that may be the case occasionally in the NFL I doubt that it occurs often enough to make a 10 minute highlight reel. I would have liked to see more highlights of at lease reasonable coverage. Now, maybe no one was near him because he's a great route runner and very elusive or maybe the DBs were bad.

He is triple threat, he can be a factor in the return game, running game and passing game. I just don't know if 1.17 is where to take him.

Pappy