xwalker
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Beasley mastered his niche role/ability.
He is great in the short area. His primary skill is that he can cut 90 degrees faster than the CB covering him. The slot CB has no sideline to help him and Beasley knows if he is going right/left while the CB has to wait until Beasley's cut to know if it's right/left.
Beasley is a student of the game. It probably helps that he was a High School QB. He is a crafty route runner with speed variations coming off the line and other little tricks.
He is very reliable catching the ball if he is truely open.
Having said all of that, he has many limitations. He needs the ball thrown on precise timing because he needs to be truely open which only happens on that split second after his cut.
On longer routes CBs have more time to react because the ball is in the air longer. This negates his quickness advantage. On the longer (past 10 yards) routes the length advantage of CBs becomes a problem as they can reach around and over him.
Beasley is very quick but not all that fast. On 3rd and long defenses can let him catch it short with confidence that they'll tackle him short of the 1st down marker.
The fact that Dez and Witten were slow in 2017 really affected Beasley. Witten also works the short area and Dez was not commanding double-teams very often (other than the Raiders game).
Defenses started giving the Nickel CB help on Beasley. Sometimes on 3rd down he would see true double (bracket) coverage. Most of the time defenses would keep a LB or Safety on Beasley's potential inside path which allowed the Nickel CB to play the outside cut.
It turned out that keeping that defender in the way of Beasley's inside path also put that player in great position against the run. If there was more speed at TE or at the #1 WR position defenses would get exploited for giving the extra help against Beasley.
The other limitation with Beasley is that defenses are not worried about him gashing them for a big play, mainly because his limited RAC ability and lack of elite speed meant that the defense could make a mistake and still limit the yards gained by Beasley. On 3rd and long defenses could play back at the 1st down marker and focus on other receivers then come up to tackle Beasley short of the marker if the ball went to him underneath. If defenses play that style with Tavon Austin replacing Beasley they risk giving up a big play.
The value of a player like Tavon Austin (if he performs up to his talent) is how it opens things up for other WRs/TEs. There might games where Austin's stats are not exciting but if he had a big play or plays in previous games then defenses will adjust to limit him which will open things up for other receiving options. This is true regardless of what position he is playing.
People say a deep threat will take the top off a defense but I see Austin as taking the bottom off the defense so to speak. He is a threat to turn what would be a 5 yard gain by Beasley into a 15+ yard gain. That threat changes how defenses cover the underneath area.
If defenses play man coverage that makes it easy for the other receiving options to run the coverage off and open up the underneath for Austin.
If defenses play off then that opens things up in the short area for TEs.
I don't know if Austin will perform as we hope but the concept of player like him is exciting. Even if his stats are limited, he can affect defenses to make the overall offense function better.
He is great in the short area. His primary skill is that he can cut 90 degrees faster than the CB covering him. The slot CB has no sideline to help him and Beasley knows if he is going right/left while the CB has to wait until Beasley's cut to know if it's right/left.
Beasley is a student of the game. It probably helps that he was a High School QB. He is a crafty route runner with speed variations coming off the line and other little tricks.
He is very reliable catching the ball if he is truely open.
Having said all of that, he has many limitations. He needs the ball thrown on precise timing because he needs to be truely open which only happens on that split second after his cut.
On longer routes CBs have more time to react because the ball is in the air longer. This negates his quickness advantage. On the longer (past 10 yards) routes the length advantage of CBs becomes a problem as they can reach around and over him.
Beasley is very quick but not all that fast. On 3rd and long defenses can let him catch it short with confidence that they'll tackle him short of the 1st down marker.
The fact that Dez and Witten were slow in 2017 really affected Beasley. Witten also works the short area and Dez was not commanding double-teams very often (other than the Raiders game).
Defenses started giving the Nickel CB help on Beasley. Sometimes on 3rd down he would see true double (bracket) coverage. Most of the time defenses would keep a LB or Safety on Beasley's potential inside path which allowed the Nickel CB to play the outside cut.
It turned out that keeping that defender in the way of Beasley's inside path also put that player in great position against the run. If there was more speed at TE or at the #1 WR position defenses would get exploited for giving the extra help against Beasley.
The other limitation with Beasley is that defenses are not worried about him gashing them for a big play, mainly because his limited RAC ability and lack of elite speed meant that the defense could make a mistake and still limit the yards gained by Beasley. On 3rd and long defenses could play back at the 1st down marker and focus on other receivers then come up to tackle Beasley short of the marker if the ball went to him underneath. If defenses play that style with Tavon Austin replacing Beasley they risk giving up a big play.
The value of a player like Tavon Austin (if he performs up to his talent) is how it opens things up for other WRs/TEs. There might games where Austin's stats are not exciting but if he had a big play or plays in previous games then defenses will adjust to limit him which will open things up for other receiving options. This is true regardless of what position he is playing.
People say a deep threat will take the top off a defense but I see Austin as taking the bottom off the defense so to speak. He is a threat to turn what would be a 5 yard gain by Beasley into a 15+ yard gain. That threat changes how defenses cover the underneath area.
If defenses play man coverage that makes it easy for the other receiving options to run the coverage off and open up the underneath for Austin.
If defenses play off then that opens things up in the short area for TEs.
I don't know if Austin will perform as we hope but the concept of player like him is exciting. Even if his stats are limited, he can affect defenses to make the overall offense function better.
