Dallas Cowboys: Tavon Austin the punt returner is both asset and liability

Recent Dallas Cowboys addition, Tavon Austin, is expected to handle majority of the punt returns this season, Here’s why he’s both an asset and a liability in that role…

When the Dallas Cowboys shipped the Rams a sixth round pick to acquire the dynamic Tavon Austin, they did so with multiple roles in mind. On offense, Austin was to serve a “web back” – someone who stretches the field horizontally to spread out defenses fixated on stopping Ezekiel Elliott. And on special teams he was to serve as the primary punt returner – someone who’s a threat to score every time he fields a punt.

Throughout the offseason and into the postseason we’ve dedicated truckloads of time explaining the multiple duties he’ll be responsible for on offense. But we’ve seemed to neglect explaining the role he’ll play on special teams. So today we address his role as punt returner and explain why he’s both a major asset and a major liability…

Tavon Austin the special teams asset

It’s no secret Tavon Austin is a weapon when given the ball in space, so it really shouldn’t be a surprise he’s such a threat in the return game. Putting his 4.34 40-time and 4.01 20-yard-shuttle time to work, Tavon has amassed  1,356 return yards on 158 attempts. His 8.6 yards per return is ok (still less than Ryan Switzer’s 8.8 last season) but it’s Tavon’s long distance touchdown totals that makes jaws drop.

In his career, Tavon has punt return touchdowns of 98 yards, 78 yards, and 75 yards. Those are significant distances made possible by elite top-end-speed. When he’s returning punts for the Dallas Cowboys this season, opponents will be careful not to over kick their coverage and give Austin room to operate because we all know what he can do with that.

Tavon Austin the special teams liability

Unfortunately, Tavon Austin is just as dangerous for his own team as he is for the opposing team. In those 158 return attempts, Austin has fumbled the ball 17 times. That equates to one fumble every nine punt returns!

Based on his career averages Tavon Austin offers the Dallas Cowboys one touchdown and three lost fumbles this season. That’s not a great ratio especially considering fumbled punts are almost exclusively within the fumbling team’s own territory.

Dallas Cowboys fans have historically been pretty adverse to fumbled punts. Think about how upset Cowboys Nation got when Lance Lenoir fumbled those two punts in the preseason this year. The game was an exhibition and Lenoir’s not even a regular returner, yet many of us were calling for his job. Heck, we still haven’t forgiven Ryan Switzer for his fumble against LA last season. How are we going to feel about Austin doing it three times?

I admit, I’m excited to see Tavon Austin return punts this season but that excitement is going to immediately shift to horror the first time he puts the ball on the carpet.

It’s important for the Dallas Cowboys and us fans to know what we’re in for this season with Tavon Austin. It’s likely we’ll need to take the good with the bad in the return game. Are you ok with that?

• Published on 09/05/2018 at 12:01 PM
• Last updated at 09/05/2018 at 10:25 AM