O.J. Howard could ‘blossom into a star’ for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Entering his third season in the NFL, tight end O.J. Howard of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has gathered a ton of steam towards a potential breakout year.

Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport recently released a piece where he identified a handful of young players who still have the talent and time to blossom into the next stars of the NFL. Continuing to generate a ton of buzz this offseason, Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end O.J. Howard made the list of players who have got next.

To this point in his career, Howard has posted fairly consistent numbers, but has been hampered by injuries over the first two years of his career. Should he stay healthy in 2019, he could be looking at an ideal offensive system, a new and improved Jameis Winston, and a massive third year.

Last season in ten games and eight starts, Howard posted a stat line of 565 yards and five touchdowns on 34 catches. Adding this to his rookie totals, Juice as they call him, has a career total of 997 yards and 11 scores on 60 catches. There is optimism and intrigue surrounding the former first round pick of the Buccaneers out of Alabama, and the possibility he could double these totals in his third year.

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"“This isn’t to say Howard will explode like Gronk in 2011. But he’s a wildly athletic mismatch of a tight end with a new head coach in Bruce Arians who likes to spread the field and a more settled situation at quarterback.The ingredients are there for a third-year surge” (Davenport via Bleacher Report)."

With the departure of Adam Humphries, who covered most of the underneath routes a year ago, Howard could be asked to split out and play some slot receiver for the Buccaneers in addition to exploiting the seam of opposing defenses. In Bruce Arians’ vertical offensive scheme and with Chris Godwin and Mike Evans taking the top off of the defense, Howard will have every opportunity to make plays for the Tampa Bay offense.

To the Pro Bowl and beyond for Howard in 2019? It is, at this point, a matter of his health. All signs point towards the third-year tight end exploding onto the scene this year for the Buccaneers.