The Tampa Bay Buccanneers have exercised TE O.J. Howard‘s fifth-year option for the 2021 season, according to Scott Reynolds of PewterReport.com.
Howard has come up in trade rumors dating back to last season.
However, Buccaneers GM Jason Licht said last week that the organization wants to keep Howard despite recent trade rumors and acquiring Rob Gronkowski.
“We’re excited about having OJ Howard play with Rob Gronkowski. Why wouldn’t you want to have many weapons at that position? We have an excellent tight end group right now,” Licht said. (NFLTR)
The fifth-year option was guaranteed for injury only and wouldn’t have prevented them from negotiating a contract extension in the coming months. It was projected to cost them $6,013,000 for the 2021 season.
Howard, 25, is a former first-round pick of the Buccaneers back in 2017. He signed a four-year, $11.094 million contract that included a $6.208 million signing bonus and he stands to make a base salary of $1.97 million for the 2020 season.
Howard’s contract includes a fifth-year option for the Buccaneers to pick up this offseason.
In 2019, Howard appeared in 14 games for the Buccaneers and caught 34 passes for 459 yards receiving and one touchdown.
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