OJ Howard: Highly Touted to Fantasy Disappearing Act Under Bruce Arians

If the talent pool at the tight end position wasn't a complete disaster, OJ Howard would be on the fantasy chopping block.

So far, if you took a chance on Tampa Bay TE OJ Howard in your fantasy draft, it would be difficult to be more disappointed/enraged.  Howard, who was widely considered to be in (and often at the top) of that next tier of TEs after Kelce, Kittle, and Ertz, has been an unmitigated disaster.

In Week 2, Howard was targeted zero times.  At no point did Jameis Winston look his way in an attempt to complete a pass.  Well, that’s not strictly true.  Winston did throw towards him once but Howard committed offensive pass interference, so really I guess it’s fair to say the Bucs netted negative 10 yards throwing to Howard on Sunday.  This means that through 2 games, Howard has caught 4 balls for 32 yards.  He has been targeted only 5 times this season, which accounts for just over 9% of Winston’s passes.  To say Howard is not a part of the Tampa Bay offensive plan up to this point would be like saying Antonio Brown can be high maintenance at times.

Is the situation with Howard a tire fire?  Absolutely.  But don’t sell the farm yet.  OJ Howard is still one of the most athletic, physically gifted TEs out there, and it seems like his talent level is just too high to allow him to languish on the Tampa Bay back burner for much longer.  It seems highly likely that Howard will break out at some point–it’s just a question if he’ll be on everyone’s bench when it happens.

Howard has fallen down Wolf’s ROS Rankings to TE7, below the likes of Darren Waller and Mark Andrews.

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