The unofficial rallying cry for the Bucs this offseason has been “Weapons for Winston.”

With the addition of tight end O.J. Howard on Thursday night, the Bucs accomplished that. And there are still six picks to go.

Both general manager Jason Licht and head coach Dirk Koetter were both beyond excited when speaking to the media just minutes after the pick was made.

“We’re all happy but that’s the biggest hug I’ve ever gotten from Coach Koetter,” Licht said during his press conference Thursday night at One Buc Place. “He is beyond excited. I’ve already heard from Jameis [Winston], I’ve heard from other guys on our team, and there’s a lot of excitement around here right now.”

Fueling that excitement is the size and versatility Howard is bringing to Tampa Bay. Licht made it a point to mention 6-foot-6, 250-pounds on multiple occasions when answering questions Thursday.

“The true Y tight ends are a dying breed in college football, so there’s not that many teams left that utilize a player like O.J.,” Koetter said. “And in the NFL I think it’s still one of the best weapons you can have. Here’s a guy that has the speed to run down the seam and the power to block a defensive end at the line of scrimmage. There’s not that many of those guys around, so we’re very fortunate that he was still there and we’re excited for him to be joining the Bucs.”

Then there’s the excitement that came with Howard even being available when the Bucs were making their selection at No. 19.

“It was a little bit of a pipe dream during the process that he would get there,” Licht said. “Got a little itchy and we decided to stay patient. We were getting some action at our pick. I have a feeling a lot of teams were probably after him.

“But that was the most excited I’ve seen the entire room since I’ve been here since we picked Jameis with our first-round pick.”

When the pick was made around 10:20 p.m., the Bucs made Howard the organization’s first-ever tight end selected in the first round. He’s the team’s 38th all-time first-round pick.

Licht provided a little insight to the Bucs’ war room analysis, as well, when asked about Howard’s biggest upside.

“He’s big, he’s a huge target, makes contested catches, he’s athletic, he can run, I think he’s going to help you immediately in the passing game but then he’s eventually going to develop into a really good blocker, as well, with his length and his effort,” Licht said. “He’s a tough guy. He’s a tight end prospect that doesn’t come around very often: the multi-faceted, across-the-board type of guy.”

As for adding explosiveness to the offense and filling Winston’s toolbox with dynamic options, Koetter said Howard’s selection does just that.

“We said we needed more explosive players and this is an explosive player, he just plays inside instead of outside,” the head coach said. “We were fortunate enough to add speed on the outside with DeSean Jackson to pair up with Mike [Evans] and now we’ve got two tight ends to pair with Cameron Brate.”

Winston hadn’t released any social media messages reacting to his new tight end from his home state when this article published, but Licht assured everyone that the quarterback is amped up for the pick.

“Jameis … I got a text from him with about a million smiley faces, so I know he’s happy,” Licht said.