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OJ Howard makes sick one-handed catch as Rays game, shows his fantasy owners that he does in fact exist
There is no position that is a bigger crap shoot in fantasy football than the tight end position. In years past, there were really only two you could count on to get you consistent points, those two being Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce. With the loss of Gronk to "retirement" this offseason, that left only Kelce as a guy you'd spend a high pick on for tight end, and maybe, maybe Evan Engram or Zach Ertz, who are each essentially wide receivers playing tight end.
Engram has delivered, outscoring Kelce so far this season, and he's tied for the most points with Atlanta's Austin Hooper, who has been the biggest surprise at the position. The biggest disappointment (other than George Kittle, who finally broke out Monday night) has been Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end OJ Howard, who was supposed to be the Jason Witten to Jameis Winston's Tony Romo, the Antonio Gates to Winston's Philip Rivers, the Gronk to Winston's Brady. I don't think any of those are an exaggeration, as the former Alabama stud was poised for a breakout season in year three. Prior to the year, many fantasy sites had Howard ranked as the fourth or fifth tight end in the NFL.
As of Week 5, Howard is not even among the top 30, ranking 31st in the league behind names like Noah Fant, Blake Jarwin and his own teammate Cameron Brate. If this wasn't painful enough for his fantasy owners, Howard twisted the knife by showing off his ability on national television Tuesday night. The problem? He showed it off at a Rays game, where he made a sick one-handed catch in the stands during Tampa's stunning Game 4 victory over the Houston Astros:
Does A.J. Pierzynski have Howard on his fantasy team? Could be why he doesn't recognize him. When the FS1 crew finally did, they gave him some love:
After learning that Howard does, in fact, exist, everyone pounced on the opportunity to all make the exact same joke:
Ahh, Twitter, the last bastion of original comedy.
For the season, Howard has a whopping 11 receptions on 14 targets for 141 yards. As for touchdowns... goose egg. Sorry to trigger his fantasy owners, though he may not have any anymore as he's likely been dropped already. If I know fantasy football like I think I do, Howard will go for eight catches, 115 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday just to rip everyone's heart out.