Veteran tight end O.J. Howard signed a new contract with the Buffalo Bills. Howard spent the first five seasons of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after being the 19th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Bills giving former Bucs’ TE OJ Howard a one-year, $3.5 million deal worth up to $5 million, per source. https://t.co/bwotGeyBf9
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 16, 2022
OJ Howard Signs With Buffalo Bills
O.J. Howard got off to a hot start with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but has had his ups and downs, partially due to injuries and partially due to sharing targets with so many elite weapons. Howard’s best two statistical season were his first two, in which he combined for 60 receptions, 997 yards, and 11 touchdowns. His second season was on track to be his best, as he had 34 receptions (career high), 565 yards (career high) and five touchdowns (second-most) before suffering an injury and only playing ten games in the season.
Howard was able to get healthy for the 2019 season, starting 14 games. His numbers were solid, with 34 receptions and 459 yards. However, he was only able to find the end zone once, which was a big drop-off from his first two years, in which he combined for 11 scores. 2020 saw another devastating injury for Howard; this time it was a torn Achilles in Week 4 that ended his season before it had a chance to get going.
2021 was a bounce back year in terms of health for Howard, but far from it in terms of statistics. Sharing targets with the likes of Rob Gronkowski, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Antonio Brown saw Howard fall behind in terms of importance to the offense. He was targeted just 21 times in 17 games, and only played 31% of the Bucs offensive snaps. Once again, Howard only found the end zone once. In fact, his four touchdowns combined in the past three seasons were less than each of his first two seasons on their own. Howard still has potential to be a solid receiving tight end, but he hasn’t been able to show it for a few years.
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
