I am leery of O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate. Nice players, but I worry that they won’t be used enough.

Bruce Arians is orchestrating the offense now in Tampa Bay. He doesn’t tend to use tight ends much. In his scheme, they’ve tended to be used more as blockers than pass catchers.

Arians has had control of 11 NFL offenses either as the head coach or as the offensive coordinator). Only four of those teams had a top-20 tight end. It was Heath Miller on all four occasions – the No. 8 tight end (using PPR scoring) in 2007 and 2009, and 15th and 19th in the 2008 and 2011 seasons.

Arians, of course, hasn’t had a lot of good pass-catching tight ends. But he had Dwayne Allen (when he could still run) and Coby Fleener in Indianapolis, working with Andrew Luck, and neither of those tight ends finished higher than 25th.

Howard (pictured) is a tough case. He’s a very athletic guy, with unusual speed for the position. But I don’t expect I’ll be selecting him in drafts this year.

BRUCE ARIANS TIGHT ENDS (2007-2017)
YearPlayerNoYdsAvgTDPPRRk
2009Heath Miller, Pitt.7678910.46190.98
2007Heath Miller, Pitt.4756612.07145.68
2011Heath Miller, Pitt.5163112.42126.119
2008Heath Miller, Pitt.4851410.73117.415
2012Dwayne Allen, Ind.4552111.63115.125
2010Heath Miller, Pitt.4251212.22105.224
2013Rob Housler, Ariz.3945411.6190.428
2016Jermaine Gresham, Ariz.3739110.6288.129
2017Jermaine Gresham, Ariz.333229.8277.231
2014John Carlson, Ariz.3335010.6176.029
2015Darren Fells, Ariz.2131114.8370.135
2012Coby Fleener, Ind.2628110.8266.137
2013Jim Dray, Ariz.262158.3259.545
2017Ricky Seals-Jones, Ariz.1220116.8350.145
2015Jermaine Gresham, Ariz.1822312.4146.344
2016Darren Fells, Ariz.1415411.0135.451
2008Matt Spaeth, Pitt.171368.0030.648
2017Troy Niklas, Ariz.1113212.0130.263
2011David Johnson, Pitt.12917.6127.152
2013Jake Ballard, Ariz.77510.7226.557
2007Matt Spaeth, Pitt.5346.8326.453
2010Matt Spaeth, Pitt.9808.9123.060
2014Rob Housler, Ariz.912914.3021.964
2015Troy Niklas, Ariz.4338.3219.376
2009Matt Spaeth, Pitt.5255.0113.572
2014Darren Fells, Ariz.57114.2012.181
2010David Johnson, Pitt.44611.508.683
2007Jerame Tuman, Pitt.199.017.982
2016Ifeanyi Momah, Ariz.25025.007.093
2014Troy Niklas, Ariz.33812.706.895
2017Ifeanyi Momah, Ariz.14646.005.698
2008Sean McHugh, Pitt.3248.005.484
2012Weslye Saunders, Ind.2157.503.587
2009David Johnson, Pitt.294.502.993
2013Kory Sperry, Ariz.11616.002.6100
2016Troy Niklas, Ariz.10.001.0114
2012Nathan Palmer, Ind.1-4-4.00.6100

—Ian Allan