Bucs GM shuts down O.J. Howard trade talk: Team ‘excited’ to pair TE with Gronkowski

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have reportedly been shopping tight end O.J. Howard, but the team shut down the trade talk on Thursday.

Or something like that, anyway.

General manager Jason Licht said on draft day that the Bucs are “excited about having OJ Howard play with Rob Gronkowski,” per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

In response to any speculation that Tampa could trade OJ Howard, Buccaneers GM Jason Licht said today: "We're excited about having OJ Howard play with Rob Gronkowski. Why wouldn't you want to have many weapons at that position? We have an excellent tight end group right now."

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 23, 2020

This could perhaps be a ploy to drive up Howard’s asking price, but it also isn’t the craziest idea that the Bucs could keep Howard. He hasn’t truly lived up to his hype as a first-round pick from 2017. However, Howard has incredible potential and, if he remains on the roster, would have one of the game’s greatest quarterbacks to play with.

Brady has traditionally turned tight ends into stars. Having Howard, Gronkowski and Cameron Brate on the roster would give him three outstanding playmakers, and there’s always a chance Gronk gets injured at some point given his extensive injury history.

So, at this point it appears the Buccaneers would be content to keep Howard unless they get a really big offer in exchange during the draft.