I’m interested to see what happens with O.J. Howard in Tampa Bay. Bruce Arians doesn’t have much of a history with tight ends, but he’s never had a player with that kind of athleticism at the position.
Typically with Arians, when he’s putting together offenses, he’s looking for blocking rather than pass catching. He’s been either the head coach or the offensive coordinator for 11 NFL offenses, and only three of those teams had tight ends who ranked in the top 20 statistically. Remember Heath Miller? – 7th, 9th and 15th among tight ends statistically back in the 2007-2009 seasons.
More commonly, Arians’ tight ends don’t even rank in the top 30 statistically (using standard fantasy scoring).
| TIGHT ENDS UNDER BRUCE ARIANS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD | F Pts | Rk |
| 2007 | Heath Miller, Pitt. | 47 | 566 | 12.0 | 7 | 98.6 | 7 |
| 2009 | Heath Miller, Pitt. | 76 | 789 | 10.4 | 6 | 114.9 | 9 |
| 2008 | Heath Miller, Pitt. | 48 | 514 | 10.7 | 3 | 69.4 | 15 |
| 2011 | Heath Miller, Pitt. | 51 | 631 | 12.4 | 2 | 75.1 | 21 |
| 2012 | Dwayne Allen, Ind. | 45 | 521 | 11.6 | 3 | 70.1 | 23 |
| 2010 | Heath Miller, Pitt. | 42 | 512 | 12.2 | 2 | 63.2 | 25 |
| 2014 | John Carlson, Ariz. | 33 | 350 | 10.6 | 1 | 43.0 | 31 |
| 2017 | Jermaine Gresham, Ariz. | 33 | 322 | 9.8 | 2 | 44.2 | 31 |
| 2016 | Jermaine Gresham, Ariz. | 37 | 391 | 10.6 | 2 | 51.1 | 32 |
| 2013 | Rob Housler, Ariz. | 39 | 454 | 11.6 | 1 | 51.4 | 33 |
| 2015 | Darren Fells, Ariz. | 21 | 311 | 14.8 | 3 | 49.1 | 34 |
| 2017 | Ricky Seals-Jones, Ariz. | 12 | 201 | 16.8 | 3 | 38.1 | 36 |
| 2012 | Coby Fleener, Ind. | 26 | 281 | 10.8 | 2 | 40.1 | 38 |
| 2015 | Jermaine Gresham, Ariz. | 18 | 223 | 12.4 | 1 | 28.3 | 44 |
| 2013 | Jim Dray, Ariz. | 26 | 215 | 8.3 | 2 | 33.5 | 46 |
| 2007 | Matt Spaeth, Pitt. | 5 | 34 | 6.8 | 3 | 21.4 | 47 |
| 2016 | Darren Fells, Ariz. | 14 | 154 | 11.0 | 1 | 21.4 | 52 |
| 2011 | David Johnson, Pitt. | 12 | 91 | 7.6 | 1 | 15.1 | 52 |
| 2008 | Matt Spaeth, Pitt. | 17 | 136 | 8.0 | 0 | 13.6 | 55 |
| 2013 | Jake Ballard, Ariz. | 7 | 75 | 10.7 | 2 | 19.5 | 56 |
| 2017 | Troy Niklas, Ariz. | 11 | 132 | 12.0 | 1 | 19.2 | 56 |
| 2010 | Matt Spaeth, Pitt. | 9 | 80 | 8.9 | 1 | 14.0 | 58 |
| 2015 | Troy Niklas, Ariz. | 4 | 33 | 8.3 | 2 | 15.3 | 64 |
| 2011 | Weslye Saunders, Pitt. | 4 | 29 | 7.3 | 1 | 8.9 | 67 |
| 2014 | Rob Housler, Ariz. | 9 | 129 | 14.3 | 0 | 12.9 | 68 |
| 2009 | Matt Spaeth, Pitt. | 5 | 25 | 5.0 | 1 | 8.5 | 69 |
| 2007 | Jerame Tuman, Pitt. | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 1 | 6.9 | 76 |
| 2014 | Darren Fells, Ariz. | 5 | 71 | 14.2 | 0 | 7.1 | 81 |
| 2010 | David Johnson, Pitt. | 4 | 46 | 11.5 | 0 | 4.6 | 83 |
| 2016 | Ifeanyi Momah, Ariz. | 2 | 50 | 25.0 | 0 | 5.0 | 84 |
| 2017 | Ifeanyi Momah, Ariz. | 1 | 46 | 46.0 | 0 | 4.6 | 87 |
| 2008 | Sean McHugh, Pitt. | 3 | 24 | 8.0 | 0 | 2.4 | 87 |
| 2012 | Weslye Saunders, Ind. | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 0 | 1.5 | 89 |
| 2014 | Troy Niklas, Ariz. | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 0 | 3.8 | 94 |
| 2009 | David Johnson, Pitt. | 2 | 9 | 4.5 | 0 | .9 | 96 |
| 2013 | Kory Sperry, Ariz. | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 0 | 1.6 | 99 |
| 2016 | Troy Niklas, Ariz. | 1 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 | 106 |
Howard, on the other hand, isn’t your usual tight end. He can really fly. He showed that in the two national championship games against Clemson, getting downfield for long touchdowns. The Bucs picked him in the first round, and he’s shown some of that ability at the pro level.
In his rookie season, Howard was the only tight end in the league that gained over 20 yards on over a third of his catches. He led the league again in that category last year. He’s a tight end in name but runs like a wide receiver. He’s averaged a league-high 16.6 yards per catch over the last two years. Howard missed the last six games last year with an ankle injury, but that won’t be a factor going forward.
The Bucs also have Cameron Brate, who’s a reliable option on short routes around the goal line, but Howard is the player there with unusual, mismatch-creating potential.
While Arians tends to prefer to utilize tight ends as blocker, I’m thinking he’ll need to adjust his system some to accommodate Howard’s talents.
| TIGHT ENDS, YARDS PER CATCH (2017-18) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD | 20+ |
| O.J. Howard, T.B. | 60 | 997 | 16.6 | 11 | 20 |
| Rob Gronkowski, N.E. | 116 | 1,766 | 15.2 | 11 | 26 |
| Vernon Davis, Wash. | 68 | 1,015 | 14.9 | 5 | 19 |
| George Kittle, S.F. | 131 | 1,892 | 14.4 | 7 | 28 |
| Ed Dickson, Car. | 42 | 580 | 13.8 | 4 | 9 |
| Jared Cook, Oak. | 122 | 1,584 | 13.0 | 8 | 25 |
| Hunter Henry, LAC | 45 | 579 | 12.9 | 4 | 8 |
| Travis Kelce, K.C. | 186 | 2,374 | 12.8 | 18 | 37 |
| Vance McDonald, Pitt. | 64 | 798 | 12.5 | 5 | 9 |
| Tyler Higbee, LAR | 49 | 587 | 12.0 | 3 | 8 |
| Evan Engram, NYG | 109 | 1,299 | 11.9 | 9 | 19 |
| Ricky Seals-Jones, Ariz. | 46 | 544 | 11.8 | 4 | 10 |
| David Njoku, Clev. | 88 | 1,025 | 11.6 | 8 | 17 |
| Gerald Everett, LAR | 49 | 564 | 11.5 | 5 | 8 |
| Cameron Brate, T.B. | 78 | 880 | 11.3 | 12 | 7 |
| Antonio Gates, LAC | 58 | 649 | 11.2 | 5 | 8 |
| Eric Ebron, Det.-Ind. | 119 | 1,324 | 11.1 | 17 | 13 |
| Delanie Walker, Ten. | 78 | 859 | 11.0 | 3 | 9 |
| Greg Olsen, Car. | 44 | 482 | 11.0 | 5 | 4 |
| Jesse James, Pitt. | 73 | 795 | 10.9 | 5 | 9 |
| Trey Burton, Phi.-Chi. | 77 | 817 | 10.6 | 11 | 9 |
| Charles Clay, Buff. | 70 | 742 | 10.6 | 2 | 9 |
| Jeff Heuerman, Den. | 40 | 423 | 10.6 | 4 | 4 |
| Zach Ertz, Phil. | 190 | 1,987 | 10.5 | 16 | 20 |
| Rhett Ellison, NYG | 49 | 507 | 10.3 | 3 | 3 |
| Jimmy Graham, Sea.-G.B. | 112 | 1,156 | 10.3 | 12 | 15 |
| C.J. Uzomah, Cin. | 53 | 531 | 10.0 | 4 | 8 |
| Jermaine Gresham, Ariz. | 42 | 416 | 9.9 | 2 | 4 |
| Austin Hooper, Atl. | 120 | 1,186 | 9.9 | 7 | 12 |
| Kyle Rudolph, Minn. | 121 | 1,166 | 9.6 | 12 | 10 |
| Benjamin Watson, Blt.-N.O. | 96 | 922 | 9.6 | 6 | 11 |
| Nick Vannett, Sea. | 41 | 393 | 9.6 | 4 | 2 |
| Tyler Kroft, Cin. | 46 | 440 | 9.6 | 7 | 4 |
| Jordan Reed, Wash. | 81 | 769 | 9.5 | 4 | 8 |
| Julius Thomas, Mia. | 41 | 388 | 9.5 | 3 | 4 |
| Jason Witten, Dall. | 63 | 560 | 8.9 | 5 | 3 |
| Jack Doyle, Ind. | 106 | 935 | 8.8 | 6 | 5 |
| Nick Boyle, Balt. | 51 | 416 | 8.2 | 0 | 1 |
| Austin Seferian-Jenkins, NYJ-Jac. | 61 | 447 | 7.3 | 4 | 3 |
—Ian Allan