Fantasy Football- A Breakdown on why O.J. Howard Will Breakout This Season

Fantasy Football – O.J. Howard Breakout Year?

When you ask the fantasy football community what is holding back O.J. Howard from being a sure thing, they are going to mention two things – one is that he is injury prone and two is that Cameron Brate is still on the roster and a threat to the targets we assume Howard will grab.

In my opinion the two injuries he’s had early on in his career weren’t severe, because they were ankle sprains – no tearing or breaking, so no long-term damage. I want to say that those sprains were unlucky considering that he never missed a game when he was at Alabama. The fact that he has averaged 12 games per year in his first two seasons in the NFL with minor injuries forcing him to miss only a few games in my opinion is not a reason to saddle him with an injury history that we should be wary of and instead simply view this as the normal wear and tear that comes with being an every week starter in the NFL.

Now to shine some light on the Cameron Brate fan club. For everyone saying that Howard is being held back, check this out – last year in 2018, Brate had 6 touchdowns. Only 2 of them were in games when Howard was healthy and playing 60% of the team’s snaps. In reality, a ton of backup tight ends will vulture a TD or 2 away from the starter throughout the season and when you take Brate’s role within the context that this Bucs passing attack has lost their two biggest target WR’s, even if he takes a step forward in a situational role, there is still plenty of room for Howard to get his with the target share seemingly wide open as we start the 2019 season.

Heading into 2019, you can expect Howard to stay healthy (hopefully), out perform his ADP, shock the fantasy community and finish the 2019 season as a top-3 TE – (sorry George Kittle).

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