O.J. Howard has a case of butter fingers lately. Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

Buccaneers TE O.J. Howard struggling with drops

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated 8/22/21

O.J. Howard appeared in just four games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before rupturing his Achilles last year. He’s hoping to play a full season with Tom Brady in 2021, but it is fair to wonder how much longer the seven-time Super Bowl champion will trust him.

Howard has been struggling with drops this summer. We saw a particularly ugly example of that in Tampa Bay’s preseason game against the Tennessee Titans on Saturday. Here’s the video:

So that video from earlier where OJ Howard dropped a pass he should’ve had… here’s another one, an arguably even easier one to catch, that he didn’t

Make or break year for the TE #gobucs pic.twitter.com/EJZesUfbco

— (@ZacOnTheMic) August 22, 2021

Howard caught three passes for 24 yards in the game. He was targeted six times.

The Buccaneers have a ton of weapons on offense. Howard already has to compete with Rob Gronkowski and Cameron Brate for targets, and dropping passes is not going to help him earn a more prominent role. The former No. 19 overall pick was projected to be a star in the NFL, but things simply haven’t come together for him yet.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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