Austin returns to Rams with restructured contract

The Rams made many surprising deals and moves before free agency began this week.

On Thursday, they engineered another.

Receiver Tavon Austin, who was regarded as a candidate to be released or traded because of a high salary and low production in 2017, will remain with the team that drafted him after agreeing to restructure his contract, people with knowledge of the situation said.

Austin, who turned 27 on Thursday, was selected eighth overall in the 2013 draft and signed a $42-million extension before the 2016 season, a deal that stunned many NFL observers.

Last season, Austin earned nearly $15 million in salary and roster bonuses, but he lost his job as the punt returner and was utilized primarily as a decoy in first-year coach Sean McVay’s offense as the Rams won the NFC West.

Austin was set to earn $8 million in salary and roster bonuses this season, according to overthecap.com. The cost was high for a player seemingly without a role on a team seeking to clear salary-cap space.

Austin agreed to be paid $5 million, with the possibility to earn $3 million through incentives, and drop the final three years of the deal, a person with knowledge of the situation said. He is now set to become a free agent after this season.

The 5-foot-8, 180-pound Austin has 194 career receptions, 12 for touchdowns. He has rushed for nine touchdowns and returned three punts for touchdowns.

In 2016, under former coach Jeff Fisher, Austin caught a career-best 58 passes but for only 509 yards and three touchdowns.

When the Rams hired the offense-minded McVay to replace Fisher, McVay spoke of possibly utilizing Austin as a vertical threat, but Austin had offseason wrist surgery and then suffered a hamstring injury early in training camp. The Rams then traded for receiver Sammy Watkins to fill the deep-threat role. Watkins has since left to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Austin muffed several punts early in the season and was supplanted by Pharoh Cooper, who was selected to the Pro Bowl. Austin caught only 13 passes for 47 yards and rushed for 270 yards and a touchdown in 59 carries. He was on the field for only two snaps in the Rams’ wild-card playoff loss to the Atlanta Falcons.