Jason Garrett Hints 2013 Will be Make or Break for Miles Austin

It seems like Dallas Cowboys receiver Miles Austin always has tight hamstrings. Since his breakout season in 2009, Austin has battled the injury bug constantly as a starter and specifically, those hamstring injuries have kept him from playing a full 16-game season while 100 percent healthy. Apparently the Cowboys are fed up with it as Dallas had coach Jason Garrett said his receiver needs to stay healthy in 2013.

Garrett’s exact words were: “We’ve tried to look at that a lot of different ways.”

That can be taken any way you want, but it most likely means that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is considering cutting or trading Austin if he can’t put together a full healthy season. Why Jones and not Garrett? Jones makes every decision within the Cowboys’ organization, including the ones made to look like Garrett’s.

Regardless, Austin’s time in Dallas could be running out. Most of the time you can’t really blame a guy for not staying healthy, but pro athletes get released all the time due to health reasons.

The X-factor here could be Laurent Robinson, who had a breakout season with the Cowboys in 2011 before signing a big free agent deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars the following season. Now as a free agent again, Dallas could bring him back and then rely on Dez Bryant, Cole Beasley, Dwayne Harris and Robinson to shoulder the receiving load along with stud tight ends Jason Witten and James Hanna. Of course, that all hinges on the Cowboys brining back Robinson, which can’t happen until the team clears up some cap space and that will happen as soon as Tony Romo‘s extension is finalized.

The moral of the story here is Austin needs to stretch his hamstrings and do every kind of preventative exercise he possibly can every day starting now to try and prevent time on the sidelines. The injuries may not be his fault, but you can bet the Cowboys are growing impatient while paying Austin an average salary of over $11 million per year with a contract that doesn’t expire until the end of the 2016 NFL season. Put simply, 2013 might be Austin’s last season in Dallas.

Jeric Griffin is the Director of Content for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JericGriffin, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google