Halicke: Austin could be a wild card in wide receiver mix

The Steelers have long been the center of trade rumors for an impact wide receiver. Should Omar Khan stand pat and not make such a move, somebody in the receiver room will have to step up.

While the Steelers have added the likes of Van Jefferson, who caught 50 passes for 802 yards and six touchdowns for the Rams when they won the Super Bowl just a few years ago, Calvin Austin III is a guy who's turned some heads during OTAs and minicamp.

“He’s been outstanding. That’s a guy who’s gone from here to here in just eight weeks," wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni said during minicamp, using his hands to illustrate how much Austin has grown. "I mean, it’s been really fun to watch. He’s a worker, he’s intentful, he’s urgent, he wants to be coached and you can see it because his game has done that."

Austin's first taste of NFL action didn't result in too much production, catching 17 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown. That lone touchdown accounted for 72 yards, leaving the other 16 catches producing 108 yards, an average of just 6.75 yards per reception. This comes after his rookie season was taken away from him due to a Lisfranc injury that surfaced during training camp in 2022.

But, Austin's athleticism was clear and obvious coming out of Memphis. His athleticism score on NFL.com ranked highest among the wide receivers in his class, as he ran a 4.32 40-yard dash, had a 39-inch vertical and 11-foot-3 broad jump. That athleticism helps make up for his lack of size at 5-8 and 170 pounds.

Now that we have some NFL tape and data on Austin, we can look at where he needs to grow and how he might have been misused a season ago.

First off, we all know by now how much Matt Canada's offense handcuffed each and every player. The offense was bland, it lacked necessary details to be a successful NFL offense and it didn't take advantage of the strengths. Because of Austin's speed, he was limited to a lot of deep routes such as go routes and posts. In addition, the entire offense ran far too many out-breaking routes and curls. This takes away from Austin's No. 1 trait: His speed.

Austin needs a lot of routes that can have him catching the ball in stride:

This is a play that clears everything for Austin, and he had plenty of room to run to gain at least a first down should he have been thrown a better ball. Austin could be a good weapon in Drive concepts, along with any other routes than can take advantage of his speed horizontally. We already know he can attack defenses vertically, but his speed can be a weapon if and when the Steelers want to attack defense horizontally, as well.

However Smith can use Austin's talents, one thing that's certain is defenses must be forced to respect Austin's game. We saw what teams were doing last season when Diontae Johnson was out with an injury. A lot of the time, it looked like this:

NFL.COM

Defenses could get away with loading the box to better defend the run, all while pressing George Pickens on the outside. They'd even at times go as far as shading the lone single-high safety towards Pickens' side, even when in Cover 1. Above, the Steelers have four eligibles on the left side of the formation, but the Raiders are really only paying attention to Pickens.

One thing Austin can do for himself is run better routes. He has more than enough athleticism to attain better separation, but that hasn't come through in the data just yet. Of the three weeks that Austin earned enough targets to be tracked by NFL's Next Gen Stats, Austin averaged 2.6 yards of separation. This was all during the time Johnson was out due to injury.

But, context matters here. You can look at Johnson's average separation of 2.9 yards over the past two seasons and argue that Austin's right behind him, despite Johnson being considered one of the best separators in the game. But, Johnson is pressed far more often than Austin. Over the past two seasons, Johnson faced an average cushion of 6.2 yards. In those same three games mentioned previously for Austin, he faced an average cushion of 7.6 yards.

Now, Austin isn't going to get pressed very often. Defenses focus so much on pressing Pickens. Last season, Pickens faced an average cushion of 5.1 yards, the lowest of any qualifying receiver in football. Pickens was pressed even more often during his rookie season, facing an average cushion of 4.7 yards, the second-lowest in the NFL that season. Defenses will go all out in pressing Pickens.

Austin has the speed and quickness to win off the line of scrimmage, and he even showed a couple times that he is able to make contested catches like this one against the Browns last season:

That's no easy matchup against Denzel Ward. Austin gets separation off the line and makes a good stop. A perfect throw gives Austin a chance to make the catch, despite the coverage being phenomenal. 

But, you can see Austin's quickness at the release and at the break. With a new coach such as Azzanni, maybe Austin can hit another level as a route runner. It's also worth noting that Austin caught three of seven contested catch opportunities, according to Pro Football Focus. That's 42.9%. It's a small sample size, but Austin played well through contact at Memphis and it showed in his first NFL action, as well.

A more diverse route tree and some improvements from Austin as a route runner are the two things to watch for in 2024. Austin can be a weapon in this offense, but it's hard to predict just how much. Austin doesn't have the size to consistently win contested catches, so the Steelers shouldn't rely on him to do so. That was expected far too often from all receivers under Canada. It's up to Smith to find ways to get Austin the ball in space. That's when he'll be most dangerous.