Bills sign OJ Howard to 1-year deal

[TPS]

7 hours ago, BigDingus said:

As long as Knox can stay healthy, this is all upside in my eyes!

 

He's not being asked to be the #1 guy, he's not being paid a ton, and he's got 1 year to earn a new contract. So even if his track record suggests he's likely to get injured again, the Bills will get his best for at least some time. 

 

Knox will still be here, Diggs will still be here, Davis will still be here, etc. & if OJ's around for the playoffs, it's just one more redzone threat.

And Beasely is still here, for now.... Need a few more moves to reduce the cap.

[Slippery Rubber Mats]

41 minutes ago, TPS said:

And Beasely is still here, for now.... Need a few more moves to reduce the cap.

 

And the crown jewel Lil Dirty

[DCofNC]

11 hours ago, The Firebaugh Kid said:

My buddy had an episode that involved the police after the Colts playoff win, he drank several of those during the game. No charges but close call, those things are not good 

Worst night of my life started with those things.. almost died, NEVER again.

[MAJBobby]

This is such a sneaky good signing.

 

2020 season popped his Achilles (that is something takes awhile to come back from specially for an athletic guy)

2022 should be back healthy, so lets see if he can find himself again like he was in 2020 before the injury

[Mr. WEO]

PSE praying for a HOF Bills career for Howard so when they replace the names on the new stadium wall, they can just put "OJ".

 

phew..

[BigBuff423]

I think this type of FA makes a difference without teams taking too much notice...OJ Howard has real potential.

[Maynard]

54 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

Worst night of my life started with those things.. almost died, NEVER again.

Jesus, too many?

[DCofNC]

1 minute ago, Maynard said:

Jesus, too many?

Didn’t seem as though it was, but started the night by slamming 2 of them in about a 15 minute span.  It got real ugly from there. This was at the tail end of my college party days, I was a professional drinker, never have I ever been in such a state before or after that night.  Most people have a bad experience with them and many have horror stories.  The caffeine over load and the high abv is/was an awful combo if you put them down quick.

[Buftex]

14 hours ago, Cray51 said:

Can block and catch, was stuck behind Cameron Brate and Gronk.  Needed a change of scenery, love his size and athleticism 

He's not a bad blocker... his hands have improved...he was progressing nicely, until Arians took over. 

[Watching since 1964]

Jon Ledyard @LedyardNFLDraft who covers the Bucs was just on WGR at 8:37am and gave a scouting report on Howard. He said he has not come back from the achilles yet.

[machine gun kelly]

10 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

He’s an athletic freak, but grossly under used in TB.  He had Cameron Brate there who is also a very good TE and also Gronk the last 2 years.  Then you have all the receivers and RBs catching passes.  Just not enough balls to go around.  
 

He is big and very fast, he will be a matchup nightmare with Knox and him running the seams 

Outside if the Bills, I watch more Bucs games than most given I live here.  Howard was just passed over for the other two TE’s, and they have a bunch of solid WR’s.  Why do you think Brady went to Tampa.  Good line, good weapons, good defense.

 

Howard should play a bigger role here in Buff.  I’m very happy about our off-season.  Just pick the BPA for all of our picks and be happy of you can trade up for anyone.  My guess is things will calm down now.

[Andrew Son]

2 minutes ago, machine gun kelly said:

Outside if the Bills, I watch more Bucs games than most given I live here.  Howard was just passed over for the other two TE’s, and they have a bunch of solid WR’s.  Why do you think Brady went to Tampa.  Good line, good weapons, good defense.

 

Howard should play a bigger role here in Buff.  I’m very happy about our off-season.  Just pick the BPA for all of our picks and be happy of you can trade up for anyone.  My guess is things will calm down now.

I think it was more the injury than anything else.  Guy had some game breaking plays and was on his way, IMO.  Hopefully he's healthy because he's a dynamic athlete that can stretch the field and would be a great fit for Allen.

[Ramza86]

15 hours ago, aristocrat said:

Freak athlete coming off the 2020 injury so hope he gets back to previous health and he work for a bigger contract elsewhere 

Hes underperformed his entire career in TB. 

 

Hes Evan Engram before Evan Engram.

 

Maybe he can get into a good mindset here. I still think its a good signing because hes so cheap and Sweeny was pretty bad given his chances.

[Einstein's Dog]

19 minutes ago, machine gun kelly said:

Outside if the Bills, I watch more Bucs games than most given I live here.  Howard was just passed over for the other two TE’s, and they have a bunch of solid WR’s.  Why do you think Brady went to Tampa.  Good line, good weapons, good defense.

 

Howard should play a bigger role here in Buff.  I’m very happy about our off-season.  Just pick the BPA for all of our picks and be happy of you can trade up for anyone.  My guess is things will calm down now.

I think OJ Howard will have a marginally bigger role here, from TE3/2 to clear TE2.  But I don't think Howard is enough to make any offensive philosophy changes - such as large increase in 12 personnel.  He is too undependable, too many unforced drops.  I think the FO is still has a plan for the Beas/Sanders replacement and Howard is not part of that equation.

 

OJ is being paid like a TE2 and is certainly an upgrade from last year.  OJ will have his chance to upgrade his pay potential in how he shows when Knox is hurt.  If OJ can show well, and that means cleaning up his drops, he'll position himself for a larger payday.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

16 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

Solid number 2

 

 

16 hours ago, Rigotz said:

 

The embodiment of McDermott and Beane known as McBeane 💪💪

 

 

[Bangarang]

This doesn’t excite me as much as other people but it’s at least an upgrade backing up Knox.

[FilthyBeast]

Another under the radar type of move that didn't get much attention because of the Miller signing.

 

Howard was buried on the depth chart in Tampa but has shown he has big play potential and could be a 'baby gronk' type of player for this team.

[PrimeTime101]

13 hours ago, NewEra said:

I’m in heaven!!! Finally some 2TE sets!!

100%.  We can screen out of WR set any given time and we can screen 2TE sets and now we got a RG with some agility on top of it all... Those screens can come from anywhere now...

[JaCrispy]

I’m excited about this signing...could be comeback year for him...

[st pete gogolak]

I really, really like this signing, although an achilles injury is one of those injuries that you may never come back 100%.  Takeo Spikes was an absolute great player but never really came back from his achilles injury.  I think Sam Cowart was the same.  If Howard can come back with 90% of potential he flashed before injury, I think we may have something special.  He averaged 16.6 yards per reception each of his first two years in the league.  That's insane for a TE.