NFL Teams Were “Afraid” To Draft Tavon Austin Due to Past

Tavon Austin is perhaps the hottest rookie to watch this season, partly because of the immense hype surrounding him heading into the draft this year. But while the St. Louis Rams traded up big to get him, Sports Illustrated’s Peter King says that the affection St. Louis felt for Austin wasn’t mutual around the league and indicates teams were “afraid” of Austin’s past.

King says that the reason teams may have been afraid to draft Austin stemmed from fears that people from his past would re-surface now that the receiver is an NFL star and could cause problems for a young guy still getting his footing in the working world.

"There’s a reason more than one team was afraid of him entering draft weekend. Austin, from all accounts, avoided the pitfalls that have befallen lots of inner-city draftees over the years. But some around the league think acquaintances from Austin’s past (he is from one of the toughest neighborhoods in the country, in Baltimore) could follow him into the NFL."

This is a valid concern for NFL teams to have, as Austin wouldn’t be the first player corrupted by hanger ons coming back into his life to make things difficult. It’s a cliché everyone’s heard, as the saying goes a million dollars buys you a million new relatives as money — and large amounts of it — tend to bring out your third uncle twice removed who has a brilliant business model you need to investment in.

As King points out, this isn’t your typical case of this either, as Austin comes from a rough and tough Baltimore neighborhood. So take whatever cliché you have about a guy getting rich and multiply it by a hundred and add drugs and violence.

Austin doesn’t seem like he’s going to fall into the wrong crowd, but it’s a valid concern for teams to have. Hopefully for the Rams, who took a chance and won on drafting Janoris Jenkins, Austin stays on the right path and keeps the right people in his life.