O.J. Howard has not produced at the level he was drafted to play at and it may be time for the Buccaneers to begin shopping their starting tight end.
O.J. Howard is one of the most physically gifted tight ends to ever play in the NFL. His combination of size and speed is second to none which is largely why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted Howard with a first round pick in the 2017 draft.
While Howard possesses all of the tangible characteristics to be one of the most dominant tight ends in the league, his stats and results rarely show that.
Howard’s best season, 2018, was only 10 games long due to injury. O.J. Howard also had his first and most recent seasons shortened due to injury. During his three years in the league, O.J. Howard has failed to play all 16 games of any season.
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The injuries are the first big reason why the Buccaneers should look towards moving away from O.J. Howard as they need more consistency from their TE1.
In addition to his injuries, when Howard is healthy his level of play just doesn’t live up to the hype that surrounds his athleticism and sizable frame.
In Howard’s rookie year he had 26 receptions and in each of his subsequent two seasons he was only able to manage 34 receptions a piece. O.J. Howard has failed to put up the numbers that were expected of him, especially in a Bruce Arians offense that requires him to block first.
Unfortunately, Howard’s underproduction does not mix well with the new offense that is in Tampa Bay. And for everyone who wants to make the argument that O.J. Howard played well despite the new system and was a good blocker, PFF graded O.J. Howard out to 54.7 in 2019, which takes all facets of his game into account.
While no fault of his own, the Buccaneers should strongly consider moving on from the Alabama product and look for a cheaper option that may be a better fit in the new scheme.
It should also be noted that if the Buccaneers were to try to trade away O.J. Howard, there would likely be a market in place that could garner a second or potentially first round pick depending on the team.
While a difficult pill to swallow, the best move for both parties involved would likely be for the Buccaneers to trade O.J. Howard away, rather than underuse him in 2020, destroy his value, then lose him as a free agent for nothing. This would also give Bruce Arians the chance to bring in a tight end that better fits his system while also getting some compensation back.