4 free-agent tight ends 49ers can pursue to pair with George Kittle
By Peter Panacy
49ers TE target No. 3: O.J. Howard, Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end O.J. Howard had to be disgusted with the fact quarterback Tom Brady managed to lure his former New England Patriots teammate, Rob Gronkowski, out of retirement in 2020 to pair with him on the Bucs’ Super Bowl run that year.
Howard, the 19th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, was on the ascent after a promising rookie campaign and even managed 565 receiving yards and five touchdowns during an injury-abbreviated follow-up campaign in 2018.
Once Gronk arrived, though, Howard was relegated to the ranks of the forgotten, never amassing more than 200 yards in each of the last two seasons while Gronkowski was there.
Tampa Bay might want to hold onto Howard and re-sign him this offseason, largely depending on Gronkowski’s future and/or fellow tight end Cameron Brate staying on, as he’s under contract.
Yet it’s just as feasible both Howard and the Buccaneers are effectively done with each other, allowing a team like San Francisco to jump in and sign the former first-round pick on a cheap deal, based largely on the lack of production from the last two seasons.
Generating a low-risk, high-reward move is never a bad idea.