Factoid

February 13, 2019

O.J. Howard

Bruce Arians hasn't featured tight ends

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

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