March 31, 2015
It was reported yesterday that the Eagles agreed to terms with former Cowboys and Browns WR Miles Austin. Today the Eagles confirmed the signing:
#Eagles sign veteran WR Miles Austin to a one-year deal. #FlyEaglesFly
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) March 31, 2015
As we noted yesterday, the signing of Austin is perplexing.
Is he signing with the Eagles to bolster their depth? That might make some sense, except that he hasn't played special teams since 2009. In the NFL, if you're a reserve wide receiver, you're typically contributing heavily on special teams.
Or is he in Philly to legitimately compete to be a starter? In the unlikely "best case scenario" in which Austin wins a starting job, he'd be an aging, declining player who appeared on the injury report 26 times from 2011-2013, and was lost for the season in 2014 after injuring his kidney.
Austin seems to realize he's not the same player he used to be, admitting during his introductory conference call that he has lost some of his explosion, via Sheil Kapadia of Birds 24/7:
"I’m 30 now, so I’m sure I probably lost some bit of explosiveness from being 22 years old," he said. "But I don’t think it’s that much. I feel, honestly, good. I feel healthy. Even if there was a slight loss, maybe, potentially… I don’t even know, I’m just throwing out hypotheticals… but even with that slight loss of burst or whatever we were just talking about, I think the fact that I know the game more, I can still do what needs to be done. I don’t feel like I’ve lost anything because I’ve gained things mentally, so it might be a transfer of energy, but I didn’t feel like it was a loss of energy."
In the last two seasons, Austin has been a shell of his former self. In 2013, his final season with the Cowboys, he had 24 catches. His long reception was 20 yards. In the last two seasons, he had two touchdown receptions. He hasn't had a reception of 40+ yards since 2012, and hasn't had a 1000-yard season since 2010.
So what exactly do the Eagles have in mind for Austin's role? Well, he's regarded as a good run blocker. So there's that.
If Austin doesn't play well in training camp, the Eagles can simply cut him. So it isn't much of a risk, I suppose. Of course, the more efficient option would probably be to just sign a receiver who isn't at least one of the following: Old, declining, injury prone, and lacking special teams experience.
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