Lots of O.J. Howard talk after the Lombardi podcast mentioning he could be traded. A mini-thread: Howard got a lot of headlines because he caught only one TD in 2019, after getting 11 in his first two seasons. But he played a ton, more under Arians than under Koetter.

Howard played 782 snaps in 2019, which is only 10 fewer than Mike Evans played (Evans missed three games with injury, Howard missed two). Look at the Bucs' seven wins in 2019, Howard played 85+ percent of offensive snaps in six of them, 78 percent in the other. Very involved.

So his TDs were certainly down, his targets/catches/yards down from a per-game standpoint, but he played 80 percent more snaps than Cam Brate did. Tight end hasn't been featured much under Arians, but it was used a ton.

Perhaps if Bucs upgrade at right tackle from Dotson to a first-round pick, they'll feel less of a need to keep a tight end in as an extra blocker. But they won't deal Howard unless they have someone else that can handle a big chunk of his overall workload from last season.

That's unlikely to be a rookie, and while it could be Gronkowski, he's an uncertainty after a year out and significant injuries limiting him in three years before that. That tells me the Bucs don't deal Howard just to deal him, that it would need to be a compelling offer.