A year in review - OJ Howard

[*ochocincos*]

I just saw that OJ Howard has been placed on IR, ending his rookie season prematurely.
However, Howard had a pretty successful rookie season even though Cameron Brate was ahead of him and used more as the receiving TE.
Howard ended his rookie season with 26 receptions for 432 yards (16.6 YPC) and six TDs.
He had five games out of 14 with 50+ receiving yards, three of which came in his last five games.

Yes, Evan Engram has been the best TE from the draft class when it comes to a receiving threat, but that really wasn't surprising. He was expected to be a big receiving threat but not used much as a blocker. Engram also didn't have much competition to be the starter at TE and really got a boost in his production when OBJ and Marshall went to IR.

I bring this up because the only offensive player I wanted more at #9 than John Ross was OJ Howard. He had a rather good season given the circumstances and showed glimpses of that elite all-around TE that people believed he could be when entering the draft. While the jury is still out for Ross staying healthy and being a really good player (I believe he still will be), Howard would have been a very good selection. He would have had plenty of opportunities to both catch and block in a struggling offense that lost Eifert really early in the season and now likely will not re-sign him.