Potential Trade Packages, Landing Spots for O.J. Howard After Bucs Land Gronk

Life comes at you fast in the NFL.

Not that long ago, O.J. Howard was viewed as one of the next big things at tight end. After a standout career at Alabama, Howard was drafted 19th overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2017.

Now, Howard is all but certainly on his way out the door. As ESPN's Adam Schefter reported, Tampa dropped it's second bombshell of this offseason, agreeing to trade a fourth-round pick to the New England Patriots for tight end Rob Gronkowski and a seventh-round pick.

So much for retirement.

The return of Gronk seals Howard's fate in Tampa. After three relatively disappointing seasons with the Buccaneers that included 10 missed games, just 94 receptions and no 600-yard campaigns, Howard was already on thin ice. As Jordan Dajani of CBS Sports noted, Michael Lombardi of The Athletic reported on The GM Shuffle podcast a week ago that the Buccaneers were already shopping him.

"I think Howard's got a great name, but I think there's an instinctive issue going on," Lombardi said. "I think he's going to be available."

Oh, he's available, all right.

Now that Gronk is headed to Tampa Bay, it's not a matter of if Howard will be traded-it's a matter of when, where and for what.

The answer to the first is more than likely soon-especially with the whole league gathering (virtually) Thursday for the draft. Before we get to the second, let's knock out the third.

The answer is not much.

It's not a matter of talent. No one is denying that Howard has it. The 6'6", 251-pounder has good hands and excellent speed for a player his size. There was all sorts of hype surrounding Howard entering the NFL-including Bucky Brooks of NFL.com calling him the most complete prospect at the position in the past decade. And he wasn't alone.

"He's special," an AFC head coach told Brooks. "He has the tools to be a dominant player from the first time that he steps into the building. He's big, fast and athletic. He can catch the pill, and he's learned how to block. I love the kid!"

But that talent just hasn't equated to production at the NFL level. Howard's best season came in 2018, when he caught 34 passes for 565 yards and five scores in 10 games before getting hurt. But rather than taking another step forward in 2019, Howard took a major step in the opposite direction.

After averaging over 16 yards a catch in his first two years (an eye-opening number for a tight end), Howard's average dropped by over three full yards in 2019. He scored just a single touchdown, and in November, Tampa head coach Bruce Arians seemed exasperated with his young tight end.

"It's hard to say [what's wrong]," Arians said. "He's a talented, talented guy, but it's not showing up on Sundays."

That talent, Howard's age (still just 25) and his ability to stretch the field are all going to appeal to NFL teams with a need at tight end. But those teams know that heading into the last year of his rookie deal (barring his fifth-year option getting picked up by his new team), the Buccaneers really want to unload Howard. It doesn't offer Bucs general manager Jason Licht a ton of leverage.

Howard's youth and the possibility of having him under control for two years (if his option is picked up) at a relatively reasonable price (about $3.5 million in 2020) might be enough to elicit a pick in the second half of Day 2. But the more likely outcome is the Buccaneers essentially getting back the pick they just gave up to land Gronk.

That brings us to the most likely teams to be interested in making like Monty Hall with the Buccaneers.

The Colts made it clear that the status quo on offense wasn't good enough for the team when they signed Philip Rivers to replace Jacoby Brissett under center. But if the 2020 campaign with Rivers is going to turn out substantially different than 2019 did with Brissett, there's still work to do in the passing game.

Indy possesses one of the league's most dangerous wideouts in T.Y. Hilton, but behind him there isn't much. Wide receiver Devin Funchess and tight end Eric Ebron both left in free agency. Tight end Jack Doyle is a quality player when healthy, but staying on the field has been an issue at times for the soon-to-be 30-year-old (11 missed games the past three years).

If second-year wide receiver Parris Campbell can bounce back from an injury-marred 2019 season, that will help. But so would adding Howard-especially when you consider Rivers' affinity for throwing to Antonio Gates and Hunter Henry during his time with the Chargers.

The Green Bay Packers can see a light at the end of the tunnel. The problem is that it's a train barreling in the opposite direction-the Closing Window Express.

The Pack got within a game of Super Bowl LIV thanks in large part to a vastly improved defense, and so long as Aaron Rodgers is under center, Green Bay will be a tough out. But Rodgers isn't getting any younger, and outside of Davante Adams, the passing-game weaponry at Rodgers' disposal isn't scaring many defenses.

To make another Super Bowl run, improvements need to be made.

Jimmy Graham wasn't the player in Titletown that the Packers hoped he would be, but with Graham leaving for Chicago, the team's top tight end is 35-year-old Marcedes Lewis. In two years with the Packers, Lewis has caught all of 18 passes.

Brian Gutekunst has been one of the NFL's more aggressive general managers since taking over for Ted Thompson in Green Bay, and it makes sense for him to consider a little Bay-to-Bay bartering.

The first two teams mentioned here have at least some aspiration of making a run at the postseason in 2020. If the Cincinnati Bengals are at all realistic, they do not-the Bengals won two games in 2019 and have the first pick in the 2020 draft.

That pick has a 99.99 percent chance of being LSU quarterback Joe Burrow. The Bengals have some talent at wide receiver to aid in Burrow's development in veteran A.J. Green and fifth-year pro Tyler Boyd and a talented young running back in Joe Mixon.

Adding another target for Burrow in the passing game wouldn't hurt, though. Howard would be a significant upgrade in terms of athleticism over C.J. Uzomah, and second-year pro Drew Sample profiles as more of a blocker and complementary option than front-line starter.

With the first pick in every round this year, the Bengals could also have an edge over other teams in negotiations to obtain Howard's services, and they have more than enough cap space to roll the dice that Howard might turn a corner with a change of scenery.