National Football League

2017 NFL Draft scouting report: O.J. Howard

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 1:04 p.m. ET

Fansided, Will Lomas/FanSided via Titan Sized

Alabama may produce another perfect fit for the Tennessee Titans in the 2017 NFL Draft.

It is rare that a tight end prospect really polarizes the draft community. While some think that Alabama’s O.J. Howard is a product of a system, there are others who believe that he is the next great tight end to come out of college football.

The Tennessee Titans have an underrated need at tight end this year. While they play with multiple tight end sets as much or more than any team in the NFL, they don’t do it because that is what their talent dictates.

In this Terry Robiskie, Mike Mularkey offense having a strong running game and tight ends who can block and catch is essential. While the Tennessee Titans had enough to get by last year, they have a chance to really make themselves a threat this year.

If you aren’t getting cute and are just looking at adding blue-chip players to the Tennessee Titans, you would be hard pressed to find a player in the later half of the first round that will be both available and as talented as O.J. Howard.

With an athletic freak like David Njoku coming out in the draft as well, he may not even be the first TE taken. While that sounds like a knock, don’t forget that Julio Jones wasn’t the first WR taken and Marcus Mariota wasn’t the first QB taken in his draft.

Still, at 18 if the Tennessee Titans are looking to trade down to get some picks back (and even if they are) then they should look long and hard at O.J. Howard. There is no doubt in my mind that he would have a bigger impact on this offense than Mike Williams would.

Check out my scouting report below.

O.J. Howard
TE, Alabama
6’6, 242 lb.
Games Watched: Kent State, TAMU, Auburn, Clemson

Pros
-Great listed size and may live up to it at the combine.

-Smooth in his routes despite playing in a system where he spends most of his time inline.

-On a team with a touted left tackle, he is probably the best blocker on his team.

-At Alabama, while he did line up primarily at inline TE, he played split out, in the backfield, as an offset TE (almost a wing), and did a variety of things. So he isn’t one dimensional.

-Can read coverage and find soft spots and the line to gain, which is a huge deal for a tight end.

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-As much as I hate it, tight ends rarely do anything important in their first year to warrant a first round pick.

Summary
-Howard has all the abilities you want from a tight end in any NFL scheme. While he isn’t the pure explosive player that David Njoku, he does everything well. He is a great blocker in space that could be huge in the Tennessee Titans running game. He also could do a lot of shifting and moving around like the Titans like to do pre snap.

He is as close to an elite player at tight end as I can ever remember seeing.