It's official — the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will enter the 2021 campaign as the the defending Super Bowl champions after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs over the weekend. While Tampa Bay continues to impress in a big way throughout the current landscape of professional sports, the Buccaneers will no doubt be celebrating Sunday evening's victory over the Chiefs for weeks to come.
However, because of the ever-changing and fast-paced nature of the modern day NFL, the Buccaneers surely won't be wasting any time once the upcoming offseason formally kicks off.
As the Buccaneers begin the team's pursuit of back-to-back Super Bowl titles sometime in the very near future, look for general manager Jason Licht to make some serious noise throughout the offseason.
Because the Buccaneers have quite a few notable players slated to become free agents this time around, Licht and company will need to get creative in order to retain an incredibly well-rounded roster around future Hall of Fame quarterback and Super Bowl LV MVP Tom Brady.
Whether it is through the free agent market, via trade or even by way of the looming 2021 NFL Draft, the Buccaneers front office will have its work cut out for it moving forward.
With the Buccaneers slated to move some money around, shuffle its roster and attempt to retain as many talented players as humanly possible, there could be some odd men out down in Tampa Bay before the 2021-22 campaign starts up later this year.
Assuming the Buccaneers are able to bring back legendary tight end Rob Gronkowski, and with another veteran tight end in Cameron Brate under contract through the 2023-24 season, it could be the team's third option at the position in O.J. Howard that finds himself elsewhere sooner rather than later.
Howard only appeared in four regular season games for the Buccaneers in 2020-21 due to injury as Tampa Bay road its litany of tight ends, running backs and wide receivers — in addition to the aforementioned Brady, of course — to glory.
Due to the fact that the Buccaneers will more than likely employ a slew of weapons around Brady once again next season, Howard can easily become an expendable piece of the roster while he sort of already has.
Tampa Bay had no issues at the tight end spot in Howard's absence while he will be coming off of a significant injury next season, which may allow the Buccaneers to get crafty.
The 26-year-old Howard is currently slated to earn $6,013,000 in 2021-22 while there is no dead cap hit associated with the former Alabama Crimson Tide tight end. Howard will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2021-22 campaign, which he will play under the parameters of the fifth-year option from his rookie contract with the NFC South franchise.
If the Buccaneers were to cut Howard, whether it is more or after June 1, the team would save the exact same amount as his fully guaranteed $6,013,000 salary.
The Buccaneers originally selected Howard in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft out of Alabama. As a rookie back in 2017-18, he appeared in 14 regular season games en route to registering 26 receptions, 39 targets, 432 receiving yards and six touchdowns. In his second season atop the highest level, Howard appeared in 10 regular season games while producing 34 receptions, 48 targets, 565 receiving yards and a handful of scores.
Prior to appearing in just four regular season games for the eventual Super Bowl champion Buccaneers in 2020-21, a season that saw Howard tally 11 receptions, 19 targets, 146 receiving yards and two touchdowns, he appeared in 14 regular season games and once again strung together a pedestrian performance in 2019-20 — his third professional season. During that same span, Howard recorded 34 receptions, 53 targets, 458 receiving yards and just a single score.
Thanks to the fact that Brady and “Gronk” appear to be attached at the hip and the former already announcing that he will indeed be back in Tampa Bay next season, the presence of wide receiver Mike Evans and fellow tight end Cameron Brate could eliminate the need for Howard. Although players like wide receivers Antonio Brown and Chris Godwin are currently pending free agents, there is absolutely no way for Howard to replicate the output from such a tandem. If the Buccaneers are unable to retain Brown and Godwin, Tampa Bay will need to look outside the organization for additional depth at a key skill position.
Because Tampa Bay will have a laundry list of pending free agents on the defensive side of the football as well, even clearing just over $6 million can help as Licht and company will be forced to make every penny count ahead of 2021-22.
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