With Tavon Austin coming back, how can Kellen Moore use him?

After a few days of speculation, it appears that it’s emerged as professional that Tavon Austin is re-signing with the Cowboys. While contract information hasn’t yet developed, the speedy player who’s been utilized in several excellent positions can be retaining the big name on his helmet next yr.

The 2018 season changed into Austin’s first 12 months in Dallas after spending all five years of his career with the Rams. As the eighth general select within the 2013 draft, Austin was a bit of a disappointment in the NFL, along with his first single-season receiving yards overall, only amounting to 509 yards. At 5’eight” and roughly 180 pounds, Austin doesn’t have the dimensions to routinely contribute as an outside receiver. However, his blazing speed (he ran a four.34 40-yard dash) and athleticism have continually made him an intriguing utility alternative. In his five years with the Rams, Austin racked up 1,689 receiving yards as well as 1,238 rushing yards.

So while the Cowboys traded for Austin last 12 months, they introduced he might play the location of a web-returned, which coaches vaguely defined as a running lower back/wide receiver hybrid. The fact is that Austin turned into pretty much just a receiver who sometimes ran the ball off a jet sweep. His six contains in 2018 is evidence of ways little his running capabilities have been used; in truth, it was the first time in his career Austin hadn’t scored a rushing touchdown.

The widespread consensus is that Austin’s capacity wasn’t completely utilized by offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who reputedly best used Austin at the jet sweep and serious passing attempts. But now Kellen Moore is taking on, and the praise for his revolutionary football mind makes me assume that he’ll be capable of use Austin in an extra powerful way. But what would possibly that look like?

Iustin strikes a chord in my memory of the Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill. Both are under six feet and ran comparable 40-backyard dash times, and both have demonstrated how dangerous they can be inside the open discipline, especially returning punts. But Hill is a featured receiver in one of the first-rate offenses in the league. So I checked out some methods that Kansas City head instruct Andy Reid receives Hill involved in the game.

One othing that hasmade Reid any such super offensive thoughts over the years is that he places his players in a position to expose oheir exceptional talents. It’s no special with Hill, as Reid frequently uses short passing principles to get Hill the ball in the open subject. This suits a lot higher in Reid’s West Coast philosophy on offense than it does with the Cowboys’ Air Coryell philosophy. However, Dallas has implemented enough West Coast impacts inside the beyond to mimic this with Austin.

In watching some of Hill’s larger performs, I noticed that there are three fundamental concepts Reid makes use of for his speedy receiver, but possibly the maximum important one is the jet sweep. The difference right here is that Linehan in 2018 is in no way referred to as a multiple jet sweep for Austin in a recreation. However, Reid does it with Hill in more than one instance at some stage in a sport. Watch this supercut underneath:

A common theme in those plays is pre-snap motion. Often the Chiefs line up in 12 personnel and have each tight ends next to each other before motioning one off to the alternative facet. Other times, Hill himself is the one who moves from one side of the sphere to the other. This enables the blockers to understand who’s keying on Hill and who they need to dam first for Hill to get into the second one degree.

The different important part of these jet sweeps is that the quarterback usually fakes as though he’s handing it off to the going for walks lower back after giving the ball to Hill at the jet sweep. These leaves open the opportunity to run a faux jet sweep and hand it off to the walking lower back and smash inclinations, catching the protection over-pursuing to forestall Hill. But none of that happens without an excessive frequency of jet sweeps being run in a sport, which Linehan by no means sincerely did with Austin closing year.

The 2nd idea that Reid makes use of a lot with Hill is the jailbreak display pass. We’re all acquainted with a display idea, but the jailbreak modifier refers to having numerous offensive linemen straight away run to the play facet and block, rather than just having any other receiver or tight give up the block for the receiver walking the screen. Check out those highlights of Hill’s jailbreak monitors:

The Chiefs tend to apply this concept with an empty backfield, which stretches out the defense and makes it harder for them to cover all and sundry. Because of the nature of the display, it receives the ball in Hill’s fingers almost at once and units him up with multiple blockers downfield, at which factor Hill can use his pace to take off. In 2018, the maximum of the receiver monitors that Dallas tended to name had the most effective receivers or tight ends blocking out in front; however, using the greater of the jailbreak idea can help create an area.

One new detail of this concept for the Chiefs is how often they line up with Hill within the backfield as a jogging lower back before motioning him out wide for the screen. This can trick the defense and get a linebacker to cover Hill if the case is in guy coverage, at which factor the Chiefs have a dream matchup for Hill. The screen also allows to get the ball out of the quarterback’s arms speedy and limit the probabilities of getting sacked, which passed off to Dak Prescott all too often last year. So, too, could Austin thrive in that sort of situation.

The third concept that Kansas City uses to installation Hill’s incorrect position is the below choice route, which is genuinely a significant component of the Air Coryell offense that Reid tailored into his attack. Cowboys tight ends train Doug Nussmeier used an excessive frequency of alternative routes while he ran offenses in college, and he integrated the one’s concepts with his close results in 2018. It can be used for Austin, too, as evidenced with the aid of those highlights of Hill jogging beneath option routes:

The concept of the chosen direction is to allow the receiver to examine the defense and slip into a crease to catch an easy skip. Reid makes use of it a piece in another way, as he usually has Hill line up within the slot on these forms of plays so that if the protection is in man insurance, Hill can try to run his defender into some other by way of crossing using a close-by tight cease or different receiver’s route. If the protection is in region coverage, Hill has to find a pocket in the area to run to as the other ability players commonly run deeper routes that extend out the sector.

This permits the quarterback to make a reasonably smooth and, if the entirety goes right, short-throw to Hill and set him up with a few spaces to exercising all his velocity and quickness. In the beyond, Cole Beasley has been outstanding at these routes, which is a legitimate motive for Austin no longer having run extra of those, but now that Beasley is long past, Austin is a top candidate to get some seems in that concept.

The truth is that Austin isn’t a Tyreek Hill clone. However, his ability set may be very similar. The Cowboys, without a doubt, like Austin, but they possibly need to use him for more than punt returns. If Moore desires to return up all the speak approximately how notable he’s, finding a way to implement Austin could be one way to go clearly. And if he’s capable of scheme things open for Austin just like the Chiefs do with Hill, it may make the Cowboys’ offense exponentially better in 2019.