What You Need to Know:

-Howard missed 10 games from 2017-2019 with foot, ankle and hamstring injuries.

-In Week 5 of last year, he suffered a torn Achilles that ended his season.

-Howard posted 19-11-146-2 in 4 full games alongside Tom Brady. He out-targeted Rob Gronkowski 19-14.

-Howard’s small sample extrapolates out to 76-44-584-8. That would have put him top-10 across formats.

-That math doesn’t account for Antonio Brown joining the team for the final 8 games. AB, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and Rob Gronkowski (plus Cameron Brate) all return for 2021.

-Translation: Don’t expect Howard to take back the lead role. It all starts with getting healthy for the contract-year TE, who’s expected to participate at the start of training camp (per HC Bruce Arians).

Draft Sharks Bottom Line

Howard’s high on talent. He’s only 26, and he’s showed flashes of TE1 production in parts of 4 pro seasons.

Injuries have simply halted his progress. And now he’ll attempt to come off an ultra-serious torn Achilles. Howard will need a Rob Gronkowski injury to become a viable TE1 streamer.