Raiders cut ties with former first-round pick O.J. Howard less than five months after signing him, per report

Howard signed a deal in March that included $375,000 in guaranteed money

After just five months in Las Vegas, O.J. Howard's time with the Raiders is already over. 

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the team made the decision to cut ties with Howard on Tuesday. It's a somewhat surprising move and that's mostly because Howard never even got a chance to play in a preseason game with the Raiders. 

The former first-round pick, who was selected 19th overall by the Buccaneers in 2017, had just signed with the team back in March. According to Over The Cap, Howard was given a one-year deal that included $375,000 in guaranteed money, so he will get a nice chunk of change for the five months he spent in Vegas. 

Howard was likely surprised by the move and that's mostly because he was just interviewed by the team's official website over the weekend. During that conversation, Howard explained why he ended up signing with the Raiders and a lot of it had to do with the fact that he had met Josh McDaniels during the pre-draft process in 2017. 

"I knew the culture of Coach McDaniels, his history," Howard said over the weekend. "Through the draft process, being a part of getting to meet him, but I didn't get a chance to go play for him. Sometimes, those relationships build over the year and you kind of just remember guys and you remember offenses and you're like, 'That's something that could really fit me.' So when the [opportunity] came seven years later, I got the call, had a chance to talk to him and was like, 'For sure, this is a good fit for me.'"

Although Howard thought Vegas would be a good fit, the Raiders clearly didn't feel the same way. 

The Raiders would have been the third team that Howard has played for over the past three seasons. Howard spent the first five five seasons of his career in Tampa Bay before signing with the Texans in 2022. 

Since being drafted, Howard has never really lived up to the hype of being a first-round pick. He's never tallied more than 35 catches in a season and he's finished with under 150 receiving yards in each of the past three seasons. 

The good news for Howard is that there's still plenty of time to latch on with a new team, which means, assuming he's not injured, it won't be surprising if he finds a landing spot in the next week or so.