OJ Howard

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(10-11-2017, 10:35 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: It sucks that Ross is off to a bad start, but it's not like Howard is doing much to be envious about. 4 catches (on 9 targets) in 4 games.

Could be rookie struggles, but either way we're probably better off with Kroft right now.

Yeah, Howard hasn't been all that. Probably a mixture of rookie struggles and the fact that Cameron Brate is around, who is a good underrated TE. (56/660/8 last year, 15/205/3 so far this year)

TE is also a position where you don't really get monster rookie seasons. It's most certainly a position where you need a year in the NFL to learn.

Gronk Yr1: 42/546/10
Gronk Yr2: 90/1,327/17

Graham Yr1: 31/356/5
Graham Yr2: 99/1,310/11

Witten Yr1: 35/347/1
Witten Yr2: 87/980/6

Gates Yr1: 24/389/2
Gates Yr2: 81/964/13

Gonzalez Yr1: 33/368/2
Gonzalez Yr2: 59/621/2
(He actually took until Yr3 before he has a monster season of 76/849/11, which was enormous in 1999.)

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So it's unlikely any TE in the 2017 draft class would have a huge impact this year. If you wanted a real huge impact pick (from someone who was actually chosen around that pick, so no 3rd round pick with hindsight 20/20), the Bengals should have taken Malik Hooker with the 9th overall pick. Guy's a massive ballhawk with 3 interceptions already. Not that it's terribly surprising after he had 7 picks last year in college, including 3 pick-6s.