The Buffalo Bills announced Friday they had signed tight end Bug Howard.
Over the past few days, the Buffalo Bills have been bringing in a number of players to help with the depth as they try to work through injuries and players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. After signing two offensive linemen on Thursday, the Bills announced they had signed tight end Bug Howard on Friday.
As Maddy Glab wrote Howard was in Buffalo earlier this year and took part in a tryout during minicamp. The former UNC tight end entered the league in 2017 after signing as an undrafted free agent with the Indianapolis Colts. He would then have stops with the Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and finished this past season as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad.
Entering the 2017 NFL Draft, Howard was viewed as a tight end that has the height and weight teams would want at the position but struggled with separation as Lance Zierlein described in his scouting report.
However, he was very productive during his time at UNC and in 2016, with Mitchell Trubisky as his quarterback, he finished the year with 827 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.
Why would the Buffalo Bills sign Bug Howard?
The addition of Bug Howard this early in training camp certainly raises the question of why the team would feel the need for another tight end. One reason is that they are already dealing with injuries at the position as Jacob Hollister missed practice on Thursday due to a back injury and is considered day-to-day, as Matt Parrino or syracuse.com tweeted.
Jacob Hollister missed practice today and is day-to-day with a back injury.
— Matt Parrino (@MattParrino) July 29, 2021
It is interesting that the Bills would add a player to potentially replace Hollister if the injury was only considered day-to-day. This could be an indication that the injury may be more serious or the Buffalo Bills want to be cautious with Hollister and bringing him back.
The tight end position is one position where the depth chart isn’t necessarily set in stone. At the top is Dawson Knox and Jacob Hollister but after that is an open race between Tommy Sweeney, Reggie Gilliam, Quinton Morris, and Nate Becker. If Howard plays well during training camp, it wouldn’t be surprising if he earns one of those final spots as the Buffalo Bills could always use a sure-handed tight end in this offense.