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Entering Thursday night, just five SEC tight ends had been selected in the first round of an NFL Draft.
Make it six.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Alabama’s O.J. Howard with the No. 19 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
Howard is the second Alabama tight end taken that early; Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome was a first-round pick in 1978.
Howard is the first SEC tight end taken that early since 2004, when New England selected Georgia’s Ben Watson.
Howard’s appeal is obvious. His size (6-6, 251) and speed (4.51 in the 40) make him an impossible matchup in a league that is favoring tight ends more than ever. Nine NFL tight ends caught at least six touchdown passes in 2016. In 2015, three tight ends caught at least 10.
Howard has obvious red-zone appeal but also big-play ability. He averaged 13.22 yards per catch in 2016, 2 yards more than teammate Calvin Ridley or Christian Kirk, two of the more explosive wideouts in the SEC.
An APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
