Tavon Austin out, Bailey in?

It was a reported by Ian Rapoport this morning that Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin will likely miss the next two weeks with an MCL sprain that he suffered in the second quarter of yesterday’s victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Austin saw limited snaps in his first two games (44 combined) and hadn’t seen much action in the passing game with three catches on four targets (one drop) for 34 yards and a -1.7 receiving grade. But he is a threat on the ground (5.2 yard average through two games) as well as a return man (two touchdowns and a +4.8 return grade in 2013).

On the other end, Adam Schefter reported that wide receiver Stedman Bailey will be one of a number of players across the league who will become reinstated early once the NFL’s new drug policy is approved by the NFLPA (expected to happen within the next 24 hours). Bailey, who tallied 226 yards in the seven games in which he saw more than 10 snaps in 2013, should help to fill the void at least to some degree along with the former Boise State Bronco Austin Pettis who had a big catch to set up the win yesterday and who ranked 16^th in Slot Performance among the 60 wide receivers who ran at least 103 routes from the slot last season.