Rookie Profile: OJ Howard, TE Alabama

This is a banner year for the tight end position. Oft ignored, many have three tight ends in the first round, and consider it an amazing class. So I asked some DLF folks this: when was the last time we had such a good crop of tight ends? The consensus? Never. There are three potentially elite prospects and a handful of other high potential tight ends in the 2017 draft. One of those elite prospects is OJ Howard out of Alabama, so let’s take a close look at Howard to see why people are drooling over him.

[am4show have=’g1;’ guest_error=’sub_message’ user_error=’sub_message’ ]

The Stats

OJ Howard was the top tight end in the nation coming out of high school in Alabama. His home state team landed the five star recruit and he spent four years in the highly successful Alabama program.

Statistics from sports-reference.com.

His receiving stats won’t blow anyone away, but Nick Saban’s offense doesn’t ask a whole lot in the receiving game from the tight end position. He did manage the 8th best yards per reception mark in 2015 at 15.8, but outside of that he was under-utilized in the passing attack. Still, he managed a solid 15.1 yards per reception over his career to go along with seven touchdowns.

Though his overall stats are middling at best, Howard blew up in the 2015 College Football Playoff Championship game against Clemson. He helped lead Alabama to the national title with five receptions for 208 yards and two touchdowns – an absolutely monster performance in the biggest game of his career. (Fun fact – at that time Howard hadn’t scored a TD since the 2013 season.)

The Film

What really jumps in his highlight package is his speed in the open field. Linebackers seem to stand no chance against Howard if he gets by them, as evidenced by quite a few plays where a safety had to save the touchdown with Howard breaking away. It’s stunning to see such a big man move so fast in space. One other note here, however, is how he scores his touchdowns. In his highlight reel TDs, he’s often wide open deep and his speed helps him seal the deal. I haven’t seen him break tackles or make any fantastic moves to get by defenders and reach pay dirt.

When it comes to the tight end position, I think it’s also very important to take a look at their blocking ability. This clip from that National Championship game has quite a few examples of Howard as a blocker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXuD5W66J7A

[Insert film clip #2 – http://draftbreakdown.com/video/o-j-howard-vs-clemson-2015/]

I want to highlight a few key points:

• 0:38 – Howard makes the key block to spring Derrick Henry for a touchdown. This is an example of the good blocking form Howard is capable of when he gets his hands inside on the defender and shuts him off completely.
• 2:09 – Howard misses his block on a defensive end. It isn’t a factor in the play.
• 4:08 – Howard can’t get the block on the DB, leading to a busted run play. I’ve noticed Howard often has trouble landing blocks on smaller, quicker defenders. He has the frame to really shut them down, but can’t seem to get his hands on them.
• 4:50 – Another Howard miss on a shiftier defender.

Howard certainly has the size and long arms to be effective as a blocker, though he could stand to bulk up a bit. When tasked with blocking linebackers he usually gets the job done, but he can struggle with faster players or with athletic defensive ends. He is still far better and more practiced in this area than many college tight end prospects, however.

One more bit on this film clip before we move on, this features both long touchdowns from that game (at 2:38 and 5:08, and in both cases Howard was the beneficiary of blown coverages. He can surely make a team pay for such mistakes, but it’s not something you’d want to depend on for weekly production.

Measurables

If you’re an owner that puts a lot of stock into physical traits, you’ll love OJ Howard:

His Player Profiler shows some dazzling numbers: he’s 97th percentile in the 40 yard dash with a time of 4.51, 98th percentile for his height adjusted speed score, 97th percentile for his agility score and at the 85th percentile in catch radius. His only real failing here is his burst score, due to a very poor showing at the vertical jump, where Howard could only manage 30 inches.

Here’s a bit more on his measurables, this time courtesy of Mock Draftable:

You can clearly see Howard has the height, agility and speed to make a difference at the pro level. But this also illustrates where Howard has some holes, with his low vertical jump, weight and lack of strength illustrated by his good but not great bench press numbers.

Conclusion

A lot of people like OJ Howard an awful lot. Mock drafts have him going in the late first, and he’s the first tight end off the board in most cases. His current DLF rookie ranking further supports him as it places him as the 9th best player in the draft. He certainly has the physical traits to put him at such a lofty ranking, but he is not a perfect player.

I would rate his blocking as decent but not great, and I worry about his ability to block effectively at the next level given his lack of strength. In terms of his playmaking ability, as I mentioned earlier, too many of his really big plays came courtesy of busted coverages. One last bit I would note is that I also saw signs of a lack of will at times – Howard looked slow or lost on plays away from his side of the field, and I honestly didn’t see a lot of hustle plays from him.

Still, a 6’6” beast with a 4.51 forty time is awfully hard to ignore. Some folks think he just wasn’t in the right program to highlight his talents, an argument which does have some merit. Perhaps Howard just needs the right situation and right pro offense to unleash his elite measurables on the NFL. I’d hate to miss out on the monstrous potential that may be there, but I’m not sure I could spend the 1.07 or so pick to guarantee I get him. 

[/am4show]