Even before the NFL Draft, the Buccaneers offense was already loaded. After signing DeSean Jackson in free agency, Jameis Winston's list of targets looked something like this:
- Jackson and his 17.7 yards per catch
- Mike Evans and his nine touchdowns per season
- Cameron Brate and his eight touchdowns last year
Then, the Buccaneers used their top draft pick on tight end O.J. Howard out of Alabama. At 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, Howard has the potential to be one of the league's top dual-threat tight ends. And on Saturday, Winston offered some high praise for Howard -- the kind of praise that should get Bucs fans thinking they just acquired their version of Gronk.
"We're happy to have O.J. What he's going to do to that team is going to be amazing," Winston said, per NFL.com. "This is the fastest, most athletic 6-6, 255 guy I've ever seen in my life. It's unreal."
For the record, Rob Gronkowski is also 6-foot-6, but he's listed at 265 pounds. So, he's disqualified from this discussion. And Jimmy Graham is 6-foot-7, so he's also disqualified. So, let's just trust Winston on this one even if he's a bit biased.
Regardless, Winston is right to be excited about Howard. Not only does he have Graham-like potential as a pass catcher, he could also turn into a dependable blocker. So, not only does Howard project to be a mismatch for smaller defensive backs and slower linebackers, he also projects to help the Buccaneers' running game. If you wanted to build a tight end from scratch, it'd look a lot like Howard.
But that doesn't mean he will be the next Gronk. A lot more goes into being a quality tight end than just athleticism. This might come as a surprise, but Gronk is arguably the smartest tight end in the league, as The Monday Morning Quarterback's Andy Benoit revealed last fall:
We're not here because Gronkowski is the NFL's best tight end. (He is.) We're here because he just might be the smartest.
Skeptical? Then consider Bill Belichick's take:
"The tight end position is, probably after quarterback, the hardest position to play in our offense. That's the guy who does all the formationing. The running back is usually in the backfield. The receivers are receivers. But the tight ends could be in their tight end location, they could be in the backfield, they could be flexed. They could be in the wide position. To formation the defense, those are the guys you're going to move. It's moving the tight ends that changes the defensive deployment."
Practice is about to begin at Gillette, but Belichick is volunteering more information on Gronkowski. In fact, he's expansive, even congenial.
"Rob is a versatile athlete, but he's also a versatile guy mentally. He can handle a lot of different assignments. Some guys can't. Either they mentally can't do it, or it's just too much and their game slows down. They don't play to the same skill set you see athletically because they're thinking too much. That's not the case with Rob."
The point being, don't expect Howard to be Gronk -- at least not immediately. There will be a transition period.
Even with Howard adjusting to the NFL, the Buccaneers' offense still could challenge the Patriots and Steelers' offense for the throne. The biggest key to that happening? Winston -- not Howard's -- development. Winston has been fine so far in his two-year career, but he wasn't drafted first overall over Marcus Mariota to be fine. He was drafted to be one of the league's best quarterbacks.
So far, Winston has completed 59.6 percent of his passes, thrown 50 touchdowns and 33 interceptions, and posted a 85.2 passer rating. Accuracy and turnovers are his biggest issues. Since 2015, only two quarterbacks have thrown more interceptions than him. He also has the eighth-most fumbles for a quarterback since 2015.
But if there ever was a time for Winston to improve, it's this year. With Jackson, Evans, Brate and Howard as his primary targets, Winston has arguably the second-best supporting cast in all of football behind Tom Brady's weapons on the Patriots.
"They're dynamic," Winston told NFL.com. "We haven't had a true deep threat guy in Tampa Bay and now we have DeSean. So we're excited to throw him a couple bombs. O.J., man, he's just a specimen. We're privileged to have O.J. Howard."
And if Winston makes the leap, the Buccaneers might just end their nine-year playoff drought.
