Case for Eifert to be TE2 + draft OJ Howard

[*ochocincos*]

As it stands, Tyler Eifert is a great playmaker when healthy. The issue has been him staying healthy. It's not good when you're being referred to as Mr. Glass by the fan base. He's now in his latest health episode where there's worry he'll be ready for the upcoming training camp after yet another surgery. As things like this continue to happen, more and more of the fan base are starting to mock a TE even as early as #9 (OJ Howard).

So the question is if Eifert is to be in the Bengals' long-term plans, how can he be better utilized to provide good production and stay healthy?

I'd like to make the case of Tyler Eifert going back to being the second TE on the depth chart.

Eifert's healthiest season was his rookie season (15 games), in which he was TE2 behind Jermaine Gresham. Gresham was used mainly as the inline and blocking TE and Eifert was used more often as a receiving TE that could move around. As a rookie, Eifert has his second-highest receptions and yards of his career. That year, Eifert + Gresham posted 85 receptions for 903 yards and 6 TDs. It should also be noted that Eifert also posted his second-highest number of offensive snaps - 673.
Also, while a good blocker, Eifert is not elite in this department. He is much better to the team as a receiver than a blocker.
In order to remain an impact player, he must stay healthy. If Eifert plays fewer snaps and is asked to block less, he should have a higher chance to play through an entire season.

If Eifert would be moved back to his role from his rookie year, this could be the perfect opportunity to draft OJ Howard, who many consider the best all-around TE in arguably the best TE class in at least a decade (possibly ever). OJ Howard would come in and be used much in the same way Gresham was in 2014. Howard could handle the blocking assignments and still get plenty of looks as a receiver while Eifert is used primarily as a move TE that would block occasionally.

The hope would be that while Eifert wouldn't be the sole TE on the field and likely break 1000 yards, he'd remain healthy to have a higher number of snaps than if he was the sole TE and our TEs combined would be able to post over 1000 yards. I would consider Eifert + Howard to be (much) better in terms of production compared to 2013 Eifert + Gresham, so even reaching 1200 yards shouldn't be out of the question.