If I didn’t start this article with a joke about how O.J. Howard caught a foul ball but can’t catch actually passes, well, I wouldn’t be doing my job now would I? Oh boy, I hope Howard catches more passes than foul balls this week. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at perhaps why Howard hasn’t been the breakout TE we all thought he’d be this season.

For one, he just isn’t getting many targets. So far, he’s failed to eclipse five targets in a game all season, and has just 14 on the season. A lot of this can be credited to Howard underperforming, but let’s not forget that Jameis Winston has both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to throw to. Also, Bruce Arians isn’t really a coach you want to mess with. If you aren’t playing well, he isn’t going to give you the snaps. You’d think Howard would be in on almost all the offensive snaps, but he’s around 80-85% per game. Still, we know what Howard is capable of and it’s only a matter of time before he has that breakout. Right? ... Right???

Fantasy Football Analysis, Tampa Bay Buccaneers TE O.J. Howard

So first off, it’s always tough remembering that your players are playing in the London game, so I will repeat. DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE EARLY 9:30 A.M. LOCK TIME FOR BUCS-PANTHERS! Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let’s look at the matchup. In Week 2 against Carolina, Howard didn’t even see a target. That’s not great. Couple that with how the Panthers’ defense has played lately and you can’t feel good about Howard heading into Week 6. But London games are weird and maybe that catch in Game 4 of Rays-Astros was just what Howard needed to get going. Problem is the Bucs really have no incentive to get him going; their offense has been solid thus far, the defense is the problem.

At this point, I feel like you’re stuck with Howard and you’ve gotta keep rolling him out there. If you’re in a deep league, chances are no TEs available possess the type of ceiling Howard has. Hey, maybe he’ll get traded to the Patriots like all those rumors and we won’t have to worry about any of this come Week 7! But that’s most definitely wishful thinking. For now, I think you give Howard another week. If you’ve got a safer option, roll with it.

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“All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS contests.”