O.J. Howard - Pro Football Rumors

O.J. Howard On Bills’ Roster Bubble?

August 21st, 2022 at 4:59pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Bills are likely to once again have one of the league’s most explosive passing attacks this season, in no small part due to the presence of tight end Dawson Knox. The addition of veteran O.J. Howard behind him was seen as a move which would give the team quality depth, but things have not gone according to plan during training camp.

The former Tampa first-rounder signed a one-year deal worth up to $5MM in Buffalo at the start of free agency. The contract had the potential to help him rebuild his value after a disappointing start to his career with the Buccaneers, and represented a significant investment in a player not slated to occupy the top spot on the depth chart. After his performances in practice and the preseason so far, however, the 27-year-old’s “hold on the backup job is not secure,” according to Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic (subscription required).

Howard played more snaps than any other depth options at the position during the team’s game against the Broncos, one which Knox was absent from. However, none of them came with quarterback Josh Allen or the other offensive starters on the field, a telling sign with respect to the impression he has made on the coaching staff. Buscaglia opines that his extended playing time later in the game may have been a matter of the Bills showcasing him to boost his trade stock.

The No. 19 pick in 2017, Howard has yet to record more than 34 receptions in a season. Behind Knox, he would be unlikely to eclipse that total, especially if he were to be overtaken on the depth chart by the likes of Quintin Morris or Tommy Sweeney. His usage in Buffalo’s final preseason contest could be telling with respect to his future with the team, something which appears to be far more in doubt than many would have expected during the spring.

Bills To Sign TE O.J. Howard

March 16th, 2022 at 5:52pm CST by Ben Levine

The Bills are making headlines. Moments have news broke that Buffalo is signing Von Miller, we’re learning that they’ve also added a notable name on the offensive side of the ball. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter), the Bills are signing tight end O.J. Howard.

[RELATED: Bills To Sign Von Miller]

Howard will get a one-year, $3.5MM deal from Buffalo, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). The deal could be worth up to $5MM.

The Alabama product was a first-round pick by the Buccaneers in 2017, but injuries and an uncertain depth chart kept him from reaching his full potential. Howard has had three stints to the IR during his five-year career, limiting him to only 59 career games.

2021 was one of the lone seasons when Howard was fully healthy, but despite getting an entire season with Tom Brady, he struggled to put up numbers. Howard ultimately finished the season having hauled in only 14 receptions for 135 yards and one touchdown. This was a far cry from his first three seasons in the NFL when he averaged 31 receptions and close to 500 yards per year despite averaging only 12 games.

Howard will be joining a Bills depth chart that’s led by Dawson Knox, who had a career year in 2021 (587 receiving yards, nine touchdowns). Howard will likely slide in ahead of Tommy Sweeney and Quintin Morris on the depth chart.

Tom Brady Coming Out Of Retirement, Will Rejoin Bucs

March 13th, 2022 at 6:18pm CST by Ely Allen

It looks like the Buccaneers’ quarterback questions have been answered for now. Get comfortable, Kyle Trask, you’ve got a bit longer to wait. After 40 days of retirement, Tom Brady has announced he will return for his 23rd season of NFL football in a tweet this evening. He announced he has unfinished business in Tampa after the team lost in the Divisional Round of the playoffs last year to the eventual-Super Bowl Champion Rams.

Rumors of a Brady unretirement had persisted since his February 1st announcement. Brady even hinted at the possibility of a Favre-like return, coming back just in time for training camp. The Buccaneers, on the other hand, made it very clear that they had no intention of allowing Brady to play elsewhere for the 2022 NFL Season. It turns out, they have nothing to worry about for now. Brady cited his love for his teammates in his unretirement announcement.

Some details will need to be hashed out as Brady still had four years on his contract, with all years after 2022 being voided upon his retirement. Past that, Tampa Bay has several offensive pieces set to become unrestricted free agents including center Ryan Jensen, tight ends Rob Gronkowski and O.J. Howard, and running backs Leonard Fournette, Ronald Jones II, and Giovani Bernard. If they are going to attempt another glory run, these loose ends will need to be tied up.

In response to the news, no one is more happy to see the quarterback return than Rams’ cornerback Jalen Ramsey who was set to spend eternity as the last person to have Tom Brady throw a touchdown on them. On the other hand, no one is less happy to see the quarterback return than the unfortunate big-spender who just dropped $518,000 at an auction in a bid to receive Tom Brady’s final touchdown ball. Looks like there will be many other balls getting thrown past many other defensive backs before Brady retires again.

O.J. Howard On Track To Participate In Buccaneers’ Offseason Program

April 5th, 2021 at 6:41pm CST by Sam Robinson

O.J. Howard appears to be navigating Achilles rehab well. The fifth-year tight end is on track to participate in the Buccaneers’ offseason program, should the NFL proceed with onsite workouts this year.

Howard suffered an Achilles tear in early October of last year, but Bruce Arians confirmed the former first-round pick is close to taking a key step. While Howard should not be expected to be full-go until training camp, the fact that he has resumed running at all represents a positive development for a player who has battled some injury trouble as a pro.

“He’s not running on the grass yet, but he’s really close. The last time I checked (he) was 85% body weight running in ‘AlterG’ and looks fantastic,” Arians said of Howard’s pace on a customized treadmill, via Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com. “I don’t see any setbacks. If and when we can get together in this offseason program, he’ll be ready to go.

“What a huge addition to have him back because he was having a great year. I think, again, the sky’s the limit for what he can do in this offense.”

Howard seemed a better fit for Dirk Koetter‘s offense, posting 565 receiving yards in just 10 games in 2018. After recovering from knee, ankle and foot injuries, Howard did not fare as well in Arians’ first season. The Alabama alum played 14 games but was not the same kind of factor in 2019. He popped up in trade rumors, with the Bucs discussing him in a deal that would have sent then-Washington left tackle Trent Williams to Tampa. But Howard stayed. The Bucs picked up his fifth-year option, and the October injury essentially ensured it would vest. Howard, 26, is due $6MM this season.

Tampa Bay re-signed Rob Gronkowski and still has Cameron Brate on its roster. The Bucs also are working on re-signing Antonio Brown. This would make for another crowded pass-catching situation, but Howard remains in the Super Bowl champions’ plans at this point.

O.J. Howard Has Torn Achilles

October 6th, 2020 at 9:45am CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Buccaneers pulled off an impressive comeback to beat the Chargers on Sunday, but they didn’t escape unscathed. Tight end O.J. Howard suffered a torn achilles and will be done for the year, head coach Bruce Arians announced after the game. As expected, the Bucs will place Howard on season-ending injured reserve, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

It’s a brutal blow for a Bucs offense that is already banged up. Leonard Fournette and Chris Godwin both didn’t play Sunday, and Arians said he doesn’t expect Godwin to play in Week 5 either. Howard was starting to develop a real rapport for Brady, and he had 50 yards and a touchdown against Los Angeles before going down. The 19th overall pick of the 2017 draft, Howard had his fifth-year option exercised by the team back in April.

Fortunately for him that option year is guaranteed for injury and since he likely won’t be healthy by the start of next league year, he should be locked into that $6MM salary. The Alabama product has been solid through his first few years, but never really broke out with Jameis Winston.

His best year was in 2018 when he had 565 yards and five touchdowns in only ten games. Last year he took a bit of a step back, with 459 yards and only one score in 14 games. With Howard on the shelf Rob Gronkowski, who hasn’t had a huge role in the passing game, should see an increase in targets.

Bucs Notes: Brady, TEs, OL, Free Agency

June 4th, 2020 at 2:57pm CST by Sam Robinson

Tom Brady‘s transition to a new team in advance of his 21st NFL season has obviously been less than ideal, with the COVID-19 pandemic preventing the future Hall of Famer from working with teammates and coaches at the Buccaneers‘ facility. The first time the soon-to-be 43-year-old quarterback is expected to be permitted to enter his new team’s facilities will be training camp. But the Bucs do not plan to compensate for this by giving Brady more preseason work. Bruce Arians said Thursday he doubts Brady will need more preseason time to make up for the virtual offseason, per Greg Auman of The Athletic (on Twitter). Still, Brady’s preseason snaps figure to be more important than usual this year.

Here is the latest out of Tampa:

Arians has not gotten much out of the tight end position during his stay as head coach in Arizona and Tampa. That should soon change. The Bucs currently house an all-time tight end stable, with Rob Gronkowski joining the team’s O.J. Howard–Cameron Brate duo already regarded as one of the NFL’s best. Arians said the Bucs will use a two-tight end offense as their base this season (via Auman, on Twitter). Going with more “12 personnel” looks would give Howard and Brate more time on the field and potentially represent an effort to conserve Gronkowski, who retired partially because of injury issues last year. This also points to the Bucs giving stronger consideration to keeping all three tight ends rather than trading Howard or Brate. Arians even said he’s interested in three-tight end looks.
Tampa Bay is not expected to make a move to add interior offensive linemen to back up starters Ali Marpet, Alex Cappa and Ryan Jensen, Arians added (via Auman, on Twitter). The Bucs did not draft any guards or centers, but Arians likes what he has seen from backups Aaron Stinnie, Anthony Fabiano and Zack Bailey. A fifth-year blocker, Fabiano is now on his eighth team. Stinnie was a 2018 Titans UDFA; Bailey was a Bucs 2019 UDFA who spent much of last year on IR.
However, the Bucs are keeping multiple roster spots open for possible veteran additions. Arians said (via Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com, on Twitter) he and GM Jason Licht discussed saving room for veterans who would be more prepared to play than rookie UDFAs. With Brady on a two-year deal, Tampa Bay stockpiling vets would make sense.

Trade Candidate(s): Buccaneers’ O.J. Howard, Cameron Brate

May 17th, 2020 at 10:28am CST by Zachary Links

To say that the Buccaneers are stacked at tight end would be a gross understatement. Even before the Bucs reunited Tom Brady with longtime teammate and bro Rob Gronkowski, they had the formidable 1-2 combo of O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate. Weeks after the draft, the Bucs still have that ludicrously talented TE trio in place. Logically, at least one of them probably has to go…and it obviously won’t be Gronk.

The Buccaneers listened on trade offers for Brate and Howard towards the end of last month, but they didn’t get any offers to their liking. Publicly, the Bucs said they were okay with having all three TEs on the roster. Then, before the early May deadline, they exercised Howard’s fifth-year option for 2021. This doesn’t automatically mean that Brate is the odd man out, or that they’ll commit a total of ~$20MM to the position. Howard’s option – guaranteed for injury only – doesn’t hamper the Bucs’ ability to trade him. Also, this surplus of TEs would be opulent, even by Brady’s standards.

Howard, ostensibly, holds more trade value than Brate. The Alabama product hasn’t lived up to his first-round billing, but he’s flashed serious ability and uncommon athleticism for a 6’6″ receiver. The Bills saw that first-hand last year, as Howard went off for six catches, 98 yards, and two scores in Buffalo. And, roughly one year earlier against the Eagles, he got nearly as many yards, just with better efficiency – three catches for 96 yards, mostly thanks to a 75-yard connection with Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Teams aren’t sleeping on Brate, either. It’s true that he’ll turn 29 in July (Howard won’t be 26 until November), but he’s a proven playmaker and blocker. Between 2016 and 2017, he averaged 52 catches for 625 yards and seven TDs. After that, the Bucs rewarded him with a six-year, $41MM deal, including $18MM guaranteed. He’s been slowed by a surgically-repaired hip, but he’s more than a year removed from the operating table. It also helps that the Bucs restructured his deal in January. The exact terms of the restructure aren’t clear, but he’s probably on the books for less than the $4.5MM in guaranteed dollars he was slated for.

Howard wouldn’t be especially pricey for other teams, either – his rookie deal calls for a 2020 cap hit of just $3.5MM. The Bucs, meanwhile, would carry a $1.5MM charge for trading him.

The Bucs didn’t find any worthwhile deals for them in April, but interest should pick up between now and September. Even after drafting Cincinnati’s Josiah Deguara in the third round, the Packers could use a high-end TE to pair with Marcedes Lewis. The Bengals may also want to give the Bucs a call as they look to surround Joe Burrow with extra artillery. The list goes on. Depending on the asking price, the Bucs could have a market of 20+ teams for either Howard or Brate.

Bucs Pick Up O.J. Howard’s Fifth-Year Option

April 29th, 2020 at 4:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

The subject of trade rumors this year and before the 2019 deadline, O.J. Howard‘s future in Tampa Bay is uncertain. But the Bucs will pick up Howard’s fifth-year option, per a team announcement.

This will keep Howard under Bucs control through the 2021 season. While the new CBA mandates fifth-year options become fully guaranteed, the 2017 first-round class will be grandfathered in under the old system. Howard’s 2021 salary will be guaranteed for injury only, giving the Bucs flexibility.

Howard’s option will be worth just more than $6MM. Even though Howard has not been a focal point in Bruce Arians‘ offense, that represents an affordable price. For the time being, Howard is part of one of the highest-profile tight end groups in modern NFL history. He, Cameron Brate and the recently acquired Rob Gronkowski comprise said group. Brate is set to make $4.25MM in 2020; Gronk will count $9.25MM toward Tampa Bay’s cap. Howard will count just $3.5MM in 2020.

Jason Licht said recently the Bucs plan to team up Howard and Gronkowski. This, however, came shortly after a report indicated the team nearly traded Howard for then-Redskins tackle Trent Williams. Considering Gronk retired largely because of health concerns 13 months ago, it would make sense the Bucs keep he and Brate for insurance purposes. But it remains possible either Howard or Brate is shipped out.

The former Alabama tight end caught 34 passes for 565 yards in just 10 games in 2018, looking like a budding standout in Dirk Koetter‘s final season in Tampa. But an injury cut his season short. While Howard matched that catch total last season, it took him 14 games to do so during an up-and-down campaign. He stands to be one of Tom Brady‘s weapons this season.

No Realistic Trade Offers For O.J. Howard, Cameron Brate

April 26th, 2020 at 12:57pm CST by Rory Parks

The Buccaneers have about $20MM of salary cap space tied up at the tight end position between Rob Gronkowski, O.J. Howard, and Cameron Brate, and there was plenty of speculation that the club could look to deal either Howard or Brate now that Gronk is in the fold.

However, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com, no realistic trade options presented themselves to Tampa (Twitter link). We heard a few days ago that the team nearly dealt Howard to the Redskins in exchange for Trent Williams back in February, so Fowler’s report may simply mean that no viable trade proposals surfaced after the Gronk acquisition on April 21 and throughout this weekend’s draft. In any event, it looks as if Tom Brady will have all three players at his disposal in 2020.

Fowler adds that the Bucs never felt the need to trade a tight end and that they are comfortable with their significant financial investment in the position. But it’s not as though they really have a choice. It’s much more likely that an opposing team would pursue Howard instead of Brate, and Howard carries a 2020 cap charge of just $3.5MM, $1.5MM of which would remain on the Bucs’ cap even if he were traded. One way or another, the overall TE cap hit is significant, so it makes sense to simply give Brady as many options as possible and to see if he can help Howard start to realize his potential. GM Jason Licht acknowledged as much several hours before this year’s draft got underway.

It remains unclear if the Bucs will pick up Howard’s fifth-year option for 2021. Though the option would be guaranteed for injury only since Howard was a 2017 draft choice, the Alabama product has not lived up to his status as a first-round selection, so his future in Tampa remains up in the air.

Buccaneers Want To Keep O.J. Howard

April 23rd, 2020 at 4:35pm CST by Sam Robinson

With the Buccaneers trading for Rob Gronkowski, O.J. Howard trade rumors have emerged. But Jason Licht is attempting to quiet them.

The Bucs GM said Thursday he wants to have both Gronk and Howard on the 2020 team, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

“We’re excited about having O.J. Howard play with Rob Gronkowski,” Licht said. “Why wouldn’t you want to have many weapons at that position? We have an excellent tight end group right now.”

This group includes Cameron Brate, who is signed to a $6.8MM-per-year deal. Howard’s rookie contract runs through 2020, though the Bucs can extend it to 2021 via the fifth-year option. Gronkowski is under contract for one more season and, having just unretired, obviously should be treated as a year-to-year player at this point.

A another report pointed to the Bucs indeed being interested in moving their 2017 first-round pick. Another indicated the Bucs were discussing a Howard deal with the tight end-needy Redskins — a swap that would have brought Trent Williams to Tampa — at least a month ago. Howard was also in trade rumors before the 2019 deadline, having not fit into Bruce Arians‘ offense as well as he had Dirk Koetter‘s.

It would be surprising if Tampa Bay kept all three tight ends, but the team would have one of the great tight end stables in NFL history if it chose to do so. Gronkowski has not exactly been a beacon of health during his career, so the Bucs keeping Brate and Howard would make sense from an insurance standpoint. But the two holdovers may not be especially happy with their roles during the games Gronk plays.