Graziano - Austin's Value

[mcnuttz]

On Miles Austin's value

By Dan Graziano | ESPNDallas.com

I get a lot of questions about Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin. It seems every time a receiver of any note is potentially available, fans want to know whether the Cowboys will or should sign him to replace Austin. I usually respond with a question, specifically, "What does everybody dislike so much about Miles Austin?"


Todd Archer feels the same way, and has this piece on ESPNDallas.com to remind everyone of how valuable Austin still is to the Cowboys' offense, even with the emergence of Dez Bryant as a star and the drafting of Terrance Williams in the third round in April:

Dig deeper into what Austin did last year when he caught 66 passes for 943 yards and six touchdowns.

He outperformed the leading wide receivers on 16 other teams in catches, yards or touchdowns, including pass-catchers in Arizona (Larry Fitzgerald), Baltimore (Anquan Boldin), Seattle (Sidney Rice), Washington (Josh Morgan) and Pittsburgh (Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown). Aside from Arizona, there is not a poor quarterback throwing to anyone in that bunch.

In a division with Bryant, Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson, Austin had the fourth-most catches and touchdowns and was third in yards. And he put up those numbers on an offense that had Jason Witten set an NFL record for catches in a season by a tight end (110) and Bryant explode for 92 catches for 1,382 yards and 12 touchdowns.


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The knocks on Austin seem to be that he's always got some kind of nagging injury that either keeps him from playing or limits his production, and that he hasn't lived up to his brilliant 2009 numbers. Valid points both, but sometimes I think we have to step back and think about what our expectations for these guys really are and what they should be. Austin remains one of the Cowboys' starting wide receivers. Even if Williams comes quickly, the best arrangement for the Dallas offense when it goes to three wide receivers will be Bryant and deep-threat Williams on the outside with the versatile Austin moving inside to play the slot. Austin can play anywhere, and produces better than your average No. 2 wide receiver. I think it's probably a good idea for fans to remember he is still a very valuable guy, and stop rushing to get rid of him.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

The knocks on Austin seem to be that he's always got some kind of nagging injury that either keeps him from playing or limits his production

He isn't ever on the field during crunch time because his vagina is hurt. The other knock is that the dude is going to be killing our cap soon. This up coming season isn't bad after the restructure but the following year he jumps up to over 8 mil of our cap. That's a lot of pay for an injury prone third option in your passing offense.

I like Austin's production, I think he is a good player when he is on the field. My problem with him is that he misses too much time on the field when it matters most and we are going to have to make some decisions with regards to the cap in up coming years.

 

[Smitty]

Austin has two problems.

First, he's always hurt. That quickly erodes everyone's patience.

Second, he's being paid like a #1 and he's now very clearly a #2 WR here.

He can be a very, very good #2 WR. He can be one of the best if not the best #2 WRs in the league if he stays healthy. But he's always a candidate to be replaced because of that cap number. If he stayed healthy and took a pay cut he'd be like my favorite player on the team.

 

[Smitty]

He isn't ever on the field during crunch time because his vagina is hurt. The other knock is that the dude is going to be killing our cap soon. This up coming season isn't bad after the restructure but the following year he jumps up to over 8 mil of our cap. That's a lot of pay for an injury prone third option in your passing offense.

I like Austin's production, I think he is a good player when he is on the field. My problem with him is that he misses too much time on the field when it matters most and we are going to have to make some decisions with regards to the cap in up coming years.

Oops, yeah.... basically, this ^

 

[ravidubey]

Numbers are great for Austin but he's being paid like a key member of the team. When we look for plays, Dallas is looking to Witten and Bryant. After week 1, Austin and Murray fell into the category of "support staff".

 

[Carp]

His contract is bad in relation to what he has been doing, but I think they are going to use him in the slot more now with Williams on board. That was always where he was most effective, particularly with YAC. His hammies just have to be right though.

 

[L.T. Fan]

He isn't ever on the field during crunch time because his vagina is hurt. The other knock is that the dude is going to be killing our cap soon. This up coming season isn't bad after the restructure but the following year he jumps up to over 8 mil of our cap. That's a lot of pay for an injury prone third option in your passing offense.

I like Austin's production, I think he is a good player when he is on the field. My problem with him is that he misses too much time on the field when it matters most and we are going to have to make some decisions with regards to the cap in up coming years.

Yep. He would be a very productive 1.5 million per year player.

 

[GShock]

In a division with Bryant, Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson, Austin had the fourth-most catches and touchdowns and was third in yards.

So in a division (never mind the conference or league - why not limit it to the great DFW area?) with 6 viable receivers, he was fourth and third in a year where the Eagles as a whole, and their QBs in particular, were a dumpster fire?

Yay?

 

[ravidubey]

His contract is bad in relation to what he has been doing, but I think they are going to use him in the slot more now with Williams on board. That was always where he was most effective, particularly with YAC. His hammies just have to be right though.

He was dominant in that 2011 game in San Francisco. No matter what they did they couldn't stop him, and I think we may have seen the last of that guy.