Saints WR Kevin Austin Jr deserves more snaps (3 catches/3 first downs vs Rams) (1 Viewer)

[Jive Saint]

Austin is a supreme athletic talent, and his NFL Combine showing confirmed that. At 6’2 3/8″, 200 pounds, with long 33-inch arms, Austin ran a 4.43 40-yard dash. He also had elite explosiveness numbers with a 39-inch vertical and a 132-inch broad jump, and he capped it off with a searing 6.71 three-cone time. Austin earned a Relative Athletic Score(RAS) of 9.89, and his elite athletic upside is visible on tape.

Austin is an explosive athlete with great burst off the line of scrimmage. He’s an easy accelerator in the open field. With his quick acceleration, Austin can surge through open lanes and rack up yards after the catch. He’s also a deep threat, as he has the speed and explosiveness to stack DBs downfield. With his burst, he can separate quickly on slants, and he has the speed to maintain separation after breaks.“

Kevin Austin Jr., Notre Dame WR | NFL Draft Scouting Report

When WR Kevin Austin gets snaps, he’s full efforts. I love full effort players. He has great size at 6’2”+ 200+. And he is bold & thick enough to play in the middle of the field.

We need a big body that can attack middle zones.

Plus WR Marques Valdez-Scandling is a catching deep balls & blocking every game.

Plus on limited opportunities WR Dante Pettis looks explosive & reliable.

• Washington WR Dante Pettis is as sure-handed as they come in the Pac-12 Conference, as his 1.85 drop rate was the lowest of any Pac-12 wide receiver with at least 45 targets last season.

• Targeted 72 times last season, Pettis dropped just one of the 54 catchable passes thrown his way.
• The California native also averaged 2.30 yards per route run, the second-highest mark among Pac-12 wide receivers with less than 80 targets last season.
• Pettis’ reliable hands weren’t limited to short and intermediate throws, for he also ranked T-No. 1 in deep catch rate at 66.7 among Pac-12 wide receivers with at least 30 targets. He caught 12-of-18 deep targets (20 or more yards downfield) and all six of the incompletions were deemed uncatchable.

2018 Prospect Preview: Dante Pettis is Mr. Reliable in the Pac-12 PFF

Going forward I’d love to see the trio of WR KEVIN AUSTIN, WR MVS, & WR DANTE PETTIS work as a unit. One thing I suspect… they are going to be full efforts. Plus their athletic profiles are outstanding.

What would you like to see at WR? My priority is to find role players that also have upside development.

 

[jasonsw]

Those guys should be 4,5 and 6 at best.

I want 1, 2, 3 to be legitimate caliber Wrs. 1 a probowl level wr, no2. Probowl contender. 3rd guy is your big play burner.

 

[Snakehead]

I like what I am seeing out of KAJr.

Our WR1 isn't a true WR1 and who knows how long he plays for. Our WR2 is more of a weapon and not and everydown WR, he gets injured too much.

MVS plays the Big Z role perfect.

I liked Means as the X and I can see KAJr as a big slot.

 

[SaintKenKen]

Yes. Kevin Austin is making plays and hope to see him on the field as much as possible the rest of the season.

We still have to make WR1 & WR2 a priority this off-season but I like the "sneaky" production we're getting from Kevin Austin & Dante Pettis. Like Snead, Lance Moore, Kenny Stills, etc... we really need that sneaky production if we're going to get better

 

[meily]

Those guys should be 4,5 and 6 at best.

I want 1, 2, 3 to be legitimate caliber Wrs. 1 a probowl level wr, no2. Probowl contender. 3rd guy is your big play burner.

#1 (missing)
#2 (Olave)
#3 (Shaheed)

 

[kennydfresh]

Who?

 

[Stinkers]

I agree.

But it also brings to light how bad the injuries have been, when the top WRs on this team are a 30-year-old MVS that was just signed 2 weeks ago, and this dude that hardly anyone has heard of. But people want to whine and moan about Carr when he's throwing to probably the worst WR corps in the NFL right now.

 

[Trey W.]

#1 (missing)
#2 (Olave)
#3 (Shaheed)

That's if we can count on Olave to come back. For his health purposes, he may want to retire. Honestly, even if he does come back next season and plays, I would still go after two WR's cause he won't make the whole season.

 

[St. Geezy]

WR1 Davante Adams
WR2 Chris Olave
WR3 Rashid Shaheed
WR4 Marquez Valdez-Scandling
WR5 Bub Means
WR6 Kevin Austin Jr.

 

[Noble Saint]

Who?

Really? All of your garbage takes on here you expect people to take serious with this kind of response to Austin Jr?

 

[Noble Saint]

I like what I’ve seen out of him. I’ve seen numerous mock drafts showing us taking Luther Burden in the first round. I don’t have a direct line to that college program anymore but have personally known many of Mizzou’s assistants over the years. I’m kind of hearing he has a bad attitude that gets worse when things don’t go his way. Not really high on more drama queen prima Donna WR’s. I agree the full effort guys are fun to watch and root for.

 

[St. Widge]

That's if we can count on Olave to come back. For his health purposes, he may want to retire. Honestly, even if he does come back next season and plays, I would still go after two WR's cause he won't make the whole season.

All indications, including from Underhill, are that Olave will play again. He's going to concentrate on strengthening his neck muscles and getting bigger to be able to sustain blows better. Barring a very, very unlikely trip to the playoffs, he won't be back this year. But he should be back next year with added muscle.

But, I do agree we need to add at least one top WRs to the offense and I don't think you can't give Olave a big contract after his 5th year option given his injury history. We are going to have to be ready to move on from Olave in two years.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Kevin Austin Jr., Notre Dame WR | NFL Draft Scouting Report

When WR Kevin Austin gets snaps, he’s full efforts. I love full effort players. He has great size at 6’2”+ 200+. And he is bold & thick enough to play in the middle of the field.

We need a big body that can attack middle zones.

Plus WR Marques Valdez-Scandling is a catching deep balls & blocking every game.

Plus on limited opportunities WR Dante Pettis looks explosive & reliable.



2018 Prospect Preview: Dante Pettis is Mr. Reliable in the Pac-12 PFF

Going forward I’d love to see the trio of WR KEVIN AUSTIN, WR MVS, & WR DANTE PETTIS work as a unit. One thing I suspect… they are going to be full efforts. Plus their athletic profiles are outstanding.

What would you like to see at WR? My priority is to find role players that also have upside development.

We should use him on screens like the Rams did w/ Nacua. Unlike most on the board I think we have receiving talent on this roster even w/ out Olave and Shaheed.

Our biggest issue as a team this year has been an inability to win the LOS on both sides of the ball consistently.

On offense it’s been due to health of interior Oline, on D it’s been due to lack of talent on the interior outside of Bresee (who is mediocre against the run in his own right)

 

[St. Widge]

We should use him on screens like the Rams did w/ Nacua. Unlike most on the board I think we have receiving talent on this roster even w/ out Olave and Shaheed.

Our biggest issue as a team this year has been an inability to win the LOS on both sides of the ball consistently.

On offense it’s been due to health of interior Oline, on D it’s been due to lack of talent on the interior outside of Bresee (who is mediocre against the run in his own right)

I agree that the biggest need on this team is on the DL, both DT and DE, and that we have some playmakers at WR especially if you add in Olave and Shaheed. But, I do think we lack a WR that can move the chains and be counted on in contested catch situations. I don't necessarily think we need the next Mike Thomas, but someone who can run slants and make contested catches in the red zone while we let Shaheed and Olave work in space and run deep would really take the offense to the next level. The 4th down play yesterday is the perfect example to me. There really were no good options as a go to in that situation.

That of course, assumes the OL has better health next year and that they add a LG that can consistently play well either by drafting a LG or drafting an OT and moving an OT to LG.

I have some hope that Means can do some of the things we need, but I'm not sure he can do that so I'd include WR in the list of desirable positions in round 1 along with DE and DT.

But honestly, there aren't many positions I would be against taking in the first depending on the value. I'd consider QB, WR, DT, DE, OT, CB, and Safety if the right guy is there.

 

[Snakehead]

We should use him on screens like the Rams did w/ Nacua. Unlike most on the board I think we have receiving talent on this roster even w/ out Olave and Shaheed.

Our biggest issue as a team this year has been an inability to win the LOS on both sides of the ball consistently.

On offense it’s been due to health of interior Oline, on D it’s been due to lack of talent on the interior outside of Bresee (who is mediocre against the run in his own right)

I agree, we do have some talent at WR outside of Olave and Shaheed. I like Means and was impressed with his development. He can be an X in the mold of Adams. I like Kevin Austin Jr., he has the size/speed, etc and can be a nice slot WR and once with some size. MVS is a near perfect Z, especially if he can continue to catch the ball.

I'd like to see the final snap counts, but the commentators kept talking about Juwan switching back to WR and playing both WR and TE. I've been saying this for awhile that he should switch back to WR and play the X. He might be doing just that as he does look a little "smaller", like he lost some weight around his torso which he seems to be a little more dynamic now.