FAB 2. BRATE, STOCKER EXCITED ABOUT BUCS DRAFTING HOWARD
If you think that Tampa Bay tight end Cameron Brate was surprised or perhaps even disappointed that the Bucs spent a first-round pick on another tight end in Alabama’s O.J. Howard – then you don’t know Brate.

“I’m excited, although I haven’t seen too much of him play,” Brate recently told PewterReport.com. “I’m more of a Big 10 guy rather than an SEC guy, but just watching him in the National Championship Games, he’s a really talented guy that can get up the seams and catch the ball. He’s also really good at blocking, which is hard to find in the NFL these days. It’s hard getting guys out of college that can run up the seam and also block a defensive end.

Bucs TE O.J. Howard – Getty Images

“With my skill set as someone that can do those things really well – with both of us on the field at the same time – it opens up a ton of things that we can do offensively – run or pass. Our personnel won’t give the defense any indication of what we’re going to do.”

While there were plenty of fans that questioned why PewterReport.com put tight ends like Howard and Miami’s David Njoku going to the Bucs at No. 19 in the second and fourth versions of its 2017 Bucs’ 7-Round Mock Draft with Brate on the roster fresh off an eight-touchdown season, the truth is that Tampa Bay needed another tight end. The Bucs were going to draft one this year whether it was Howard in the first round, who luckily slid to No. 19, or Toledo’s Michael Roberts in the middle rounds.

The reason? Just look at the depth chart due to the departure of aging veteran Brandon Myers, who was not re-signed in free agency. It consists of Brate, veteran Luke Stocker, who is the team’s primary run-blocking tight end and fullback, unproven Tevin Westbrook and Alan Cross, who plays primarily fullback at 6-foot-1, 235 pounds.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Stocker said. “Looking into the draft I didn’t think we would have a chance at getting him where we were, but it just worked out. I think the run on the quarterbacks helped. I think he’s a pretty complete player – a guy that can do a lot of different things. Obviously, he played at Alabama, a school that is known for putting out good, smart football players. We’re excited to have him be a part of room and he’s a really good talent. It’s exciting to have someone like that join our team, and more importantly, join our room.”

Brate finished the last season as a starter for the first time in his career with 57 catches for 660 yards and eight touchdowns, which tied all NFL tight ends last year and tied the franchise record for TDs in a single season in Tampa Bay by a tight end. With the team moving on from Austin Seferian-Jenkins after a DUI prior to Week 3, coupled with Vincent Jackson being placed on injured reserve during the bye week after Week 5, Brate emerged as the second-best option in Tampa Bay’s passing game behind Pro Bowl receiver Mike Evans.

Brate didn’t feel threatened by the selection of Howard at all, and was reassured he would continue to play a big role in Tampa Bay’s offense this year with a call from head coach Dirk Koetter, who explained to him that he plans to use an awful lot of two tight end sets this year featuring Howard and Brate.

“I think on first and second down, especially, most teams would prefer to be in a two tight end set or one tight end and a fullback – what we call 12 personnel – and Cam is an excellent pass-catching tight end,” Koetter said. “I actually talked to Cam right after the pick, had a phone conversation with him and I think this will help Cam. But a lot of these ‘F’ tight ends or these tight ends that are not quite as good a blocker at the point of attack makes it tougher to run the ball and that’s where O.J., especially coming out of the program he did – he’s a winner, he’s a great kid, and he can do everything we need a tight end to do.”

Bucs TEs Luke Stocker & Cam Brate – Photo by: Getty Images

Bucs general manager Jason Licht said that there is a prime role for both Howard and Brate in Koetter’s offense.

“We love Cameron,” Licht said. “Cameron is a heck of a player. In our offense and a lot of offenses in today’s day and age, you have two tight ends: one ‘Y,’ one ‘F.’ If you can establish that, then it really – you can dictate what you’re doing with the run and passing game.”

Brate, who enters his third season in Tampa Bay, took the news in stride.

“The coaches were very clear in telling me that I’m still going to be a big part of what we do offensively, but when I saw the pick I was excited,” Brate said. “Just seeing the kind of athlete he is and what he brings to the table, he’s really going to help us a lot. I can’t wait to go to work with him.

“I talked to some of the coaches and they are very excited about. It opens up a lot of our offense. We can run or pass out of any set – 11 (one back, one tight end, three receivers), 12 (one back, two tight ends, two receivers), 21 (two backs, one tight end, two receivers) or 22 (two backs, two tight ends, one receiver) – it doesn’t matter who is on the field we are able to get whatever the coaches ask of us done.”

Keep in mind that Koetter’s plan was to use a lot of two-tight end sets last year with combinations of Brate and Seferian-Jenkins, Brate and Stocker and Seferian-Jenkins and Stocker in the lineup. But Seferian-Jenkins’ early-season departure and Stocker missing four games early last year forced Koetter to go with more three receiver sets in 2016.

“We used different personnel last year with what we had,” Brate said. “We had to do a lot of stuff out of 11 personnel – one back, one tight end, three receivers – and that’s kind of a giveaway to the defense that it’s going to be a pass. We’ll be able to use 12 a lot more often and that will be able to open a ton more things for us – not only in the running game, but also in the passing game. They’ll have to have defenders on the field that can defend both the pass and the run. It will be good for our offense.”

Stocker said that the release of Seferian-Jenkins and his own early-season ankle injury took away some of the wrinkles that Koetter was planning on using. The addition of Howard not only adds talent and creates depth at the tight end position, but it allows Koetter’s playbook to open up even more.

“Football in general – all it takes is just one play to get injured,” Stocker said. “We like to do things with multiple tight end sets. Not just in the pass game, but in the run game as well. I know if everyone was there and healthy last year we would have done a lot of three-tight end stuff. I think this year we’ll have more bodies available, so we’ll do some more exotic stuff with three tight ends. It will be fun for us as a tight end group it will be good for our team and it will be hard on defenses. Even if we only ran a handful of those plays every other week a defense will have to be prepared for it and they’ll have to spend time preparing for those looks and those plays. It creates a headache for the defenses we’ll play against.

Alabama TE O.J. Howard – Photo by: Getty Images

“Having O.J. just opens up a lot. It definitely has to put some difficult wrinkles for defenses to try to prepare for. O.J. is a first-round pick and a guy with a ton of talent that can help the team, but there is going to be a lot of pressure on him to come in and learn and understand it and be expected to know quickly. From everything I’ve read and seen of him, he seems like a guy that will do that. I’ll be here to help him a long the way with any issues he may have. I can’t wait to work with him. He’s going to be a great for our team.”

The first and only time that Howard played at Raymond James Stadium was also the last time he suited up for the Crimson Tide in a 35-31 heartbreaking loss to Clemson in the CFP National Championship Game on January 9. Howard had four catches for 108 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown that gave Alabama a 24-14 lead in the third quarter. The cannons didn’t fire from the Ray-Jay pirate ship that night because the Bucs weren’t playing, but the team expects Howard to make them fire this season.

“If you have a guy like O.J., who we feel like what he can do for us, it just puts a lot of stress on the defense,” Licht said. “Then you can dictate what you’re doing and they have to figure out how they’re going to cover it. Hopefully once things get humming, it’s going to open up every area of the offense. It’s going to help your run game, help all of your outside receivers, help your slot, help everything.”

Where it helps Brate is that in a passing game that now features Evans, newly acquired speed receiver DeSean Jackson and Howard, he becomes the fourth-most worrisome threat for opposing defensive coordinators. Evans is Tampa Bay’s primary weapon in the passing game, followed by Jackson and his 4.35 speed and then by the 6-foot-6, 251-pound rookie, who runs a 4.51 in the 40-yard dash, which is on par with Evans.

Brate, who has 4.77 speed, told me time and again during his rise to stardom last year that he prefers to fly under the radar and doesn’t like the attention he gets on or off the field. Unfortunately, his eight touchdowns put him on opposing teams’ radars last year. He hopes that Howard’s presence this year will allow him to once again sneak up on opponents.

Bucs TE Cam Brate – Photo by: Getty Images

“That sounds really good to me,” Brate said. “I like to stay out of the limelight. Shoot, I hope we all are successful and we all score eight touchdowns this year. There is no way that a defense will be to take all of us out of the game. It’s going to be fun.”

Brate, one of the hardest workers in the Bucs’ weight room, told me he is fine after breaking a small bone in his back in Week 16 at New Orleans, and he’s added some bulk this offseason after entering the NFL at 240 pounds out of Harvard in 2016.

“I’m 250 pounds, but it’s good weight – weight I can move around in,” Brate said. “I feel really good. My back feels awesome. I had a collision and I got a helmet in the back against the Saints. No surgery. Just rest, and the athletic training staff did a great job with me. I feel great. I feel strong. I’m ready to go.”

Brate and Howard will be an even better 1-2 punch at tight end than Koetter ever imagined with Brate and Seferian-Jenkins.