Assuming that both our Tight Ends can stay healthy, where Howard is very likely to help out is in this 3rd and moderate distance. In the past, if we ran the 12 personnel in this situation it was with Stocker and Brate with teams knowing that Stocker was there to help block because he just wasn't much of a receiving threat, a run was the probable call probably 60% of the time.
Now though, Howard IS a receiving threat and while Brate isn't the blocker that Howard or Stocker is, he can do enough to not make a running play to Howard's side obvious. With Evans and either Jackson or Hump clearing out the deep coverage, that can open up the middle for either Brate or Howard or if we run the ball we have Howard as a blocking TE to help clear out the DE or LB.
No longer can defensive coordinators just only cover Brate, they have to account for Howard as well either as a blocker or receiving threat. That should make teams wary of the blitz as well as take another player out of the box to hold up the running game.
I really expect to see our 3rd down conversion rate to go up by at 20% or more from this distance.
