O. J. Howard

O. J. Howard
No. 80 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Position: Tight end
Personal information
Date of birth: (1994-11-19) November 19, 1994
Place of birth: Prattville, Alabama
Height: 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight: 242 lb (110 kg)
Career information
High school: Prattville (AL) Autauga Academy
College: Alabama
NFL Draft: 2017 / Round: 1 / Pick: 19
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com

O'Terrius Jabari "O. J." Howard (born November 19, 1994) is an American football tight end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama, and was drafted by the Buccaneers in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Early years

Howard attended Autauga Academy in Prattville, Alabama.[1][2] He was rated by Rivals.com and Scout.com as a five-star recruit and was ranked by both as the best tight end in his class.[3][4] He committed to the University of Alabama to play college football.[5]

College career

As a true freshman at Alabama in 2013, Howard played in 13 games with five starts. He finished the year with 14 receptions for 269 yards and two touchdowns.[6][7] As a sophomore in 2014, he had 17 receptions for 260 yards. As a junior in 2015, Howard had 38 receptions for 602 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was the Offensive MVP of Alabama's victory over Clemson in the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship after recording five receptions for 208 yards and two touchdowns.[8][9]

Howard was considered by some to be underutilized in the Crimson Tide offense despite back to back seasons recording the most receptions ever for a tight end under Saban at Alabama.[10][11] When asked about Howard's role in the offense after the 2016 season, Saban said, "O.J., quite honestly, should have been more involved all year long."[10]

Howard played for the South team in the 2017 Senior Bowl.[12][13] He has stated that he tries model his play off Jason Witten, Jimmy Graham, and Jordan Reed.[14]

Professional career

Coming out of college, Howard was projected as a first round pick by the majority of NFL experts and scouts. He received an invitation to the Senior Bowl and chose to participate although he was already a first round prospect. He was able to raise his stock by having a significant week of practice for the Senior Bowl and was voted by a panel of scouts as Senior Bowl's top practice player of the week.[15] Howard finished the game with four passes for 39 receiving yards, helping the South defeat the North 16-15.[16] He attended the NFL Combine and completed all the required combine and positional drills. At Alabama's Pro Day, he chose to only run positional drills for the representatives and scouts. Howard was ranked the top tight end in the draft by Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Pro Football Focus, NFLDraftScout.com, NFL analyst Mike Mayock, and NFL analyst Bucky Brooks.[17][18][19]

Pre-draft measurables
Ht Wt Arm length Hand size 40‑yd dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20‑ss 3‑cone Vert jump Broad BP
6 ft 6 in
(1.98 m)		 251 lb
(114 kg)		 33 3⁄4 in
(0.86 m)		 10 in
(0.25 m)		 4.51 s 1.55 s 2.61 s 4.16 s 6.85 s 30 in
(0.76 m)		 10 ft 1 in
(3.07 m)		 22 reps
All value from NFL Combine.[20]

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Howard in the first round (19th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.[21] He was only the second Alabama tight end selected in the first round in the common draft era, after Ozzie Newsome in 1978. On May 22, 2017, Howard signed with the Buccaneers, a 4-year deal worth $11 million featuring a $6.2 million signing bonus.[22]

References

  1. ↑ O.J. Howard is never satisfied
  2. ↑ O.J. Howard too good to be true
  3. ↑ Rivals.com bio
  4. ↑ Scout.com bio
  5. ↑ Reports: O.J. Howard commits to Alabama
  6. ↑ Tide expects to utilize tight end O.J. Howard more often
  7. ↑ Bama tight end O.J. Howard turning potential into ability
  8. ↑ O.J. Howard, Eddie Jackson named national championship game MVPs
  9. ↑ No-name tight end becomes name Alabama fans will never forget
  10. 1 2 Adam Stites (27 January 2017). "O.J. Howard is shining at the Senior Bowl and has no idea why Alabama hardly used him". SB Nation. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  11. ↑ Joe Schad (4 February 2017). "2017 NFL Draft: Why Miami Dolphins must consider TE O.J. Howard". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  12. ↑ Chris Emma (26 January 2017). "Emma: Alabama TE O.J. Howard Has Star Potential In NFL". CBS Sports. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  13. ↑ Arthur Arkush and Kevin Fishbain (24 January 2017). "Senior Bowl South Notebook: Alabama TE O.J. Howard as advertised in first practice". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  14. ↑ Mike Triplett (27 January 2017). "Alabama TE O.J. Howard 'most complete player' at Senior Bowl". ESPN. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  15. ↑ Chase Goodbread (January 28, 2017). "Scouts vote O.J. Howard Senior Bowl's top practice player". NFL.com. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  16. ↑ Chase Goodbread (January 28, 2017). "What we learned from Senior Bowl: Zay Jones boosts draft stock". NFL.com. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  17. ↑ Chris Burke (April 28, 2017). "2017 NFL draft rankings: Top prospects by position". si.com. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  18. ↑ Jeff Legwold (April 22, 2017). "Ranking 2017 Draft's Top 100 Prospects". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Top 32 Prospects for the 2017 NFL Draft". profootballfocus.com. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  20. ↑ http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/o.j.-howard?id=2557856
  21. ↑ Sessler, Marc (April 27, 2017). "Bucs grab tight end O.J. Howard with 19th selection". NFL.com.
  22. ↑ "Howard signs rookie contract with Tampa Bay Buccaneers". SEC Country. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.