Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, citing multiple sources, reports that the Rams aren’t fielding trade offers for WR Tavon Austin now that they’ve acquired WR Sammy Watkins from the Bills.
Speculation began circulating about the Rams possibly making Austin available for trade shortly after the deal with the Bills was announced, but a source tells Florio that the Rams believe they’ll be better off by maintaining more offensive weapons.
Austin has missed a good portion of training camp with a hamstring injury and previously underwent wrist surgery, which prevented him taking part in the team’s offseason program.
The Rams locked up Austin to a six-year, $56.14 million contract that included $30 million guaranteed last year. However, Florio says that his contract is “definitely tradeable“, given that he has a base salary of $3 million this year and total compensation of $8 million in 2018.
One issue for the Rams is that they’ve already paid him a roster bonus of more than $11 million for the 2017 season.
Austin, 25, was the No. 8 overall pick back in 2013. He’s in the second year of his six-year, $56.14 million contract and stands to make base salaries of $3.5 million and $3 million over the next two years of the agreement.
In 2016, Austin appeared in 15 games for the Rams and caught 58 passes for 509 yards receiving and three touchdowns. He added another 159 rushing yards and a touchdown to go along with 364 punt return yards.
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