NFL Free Agency: OJ Howard finalizing deal with Las Vegas Raiders

After a single season with the Houston Texans in 2022, tight end OJ Howard now knows what the next step in his NFL career looks like. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Howard is headed to Las Vegas to play for the Raiders.

Howard was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the No. 19 overall pick in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft out of Alabama. In his four years in Tuscaloosa, he hauled in 114 receptions for 1,726 yards and seven touchdowns, having some of his best career performances in College Football Playoff games.

He spent five seasons in Tampa Bay and was most productive in his first three years with the Bucs. He has 119 catches for 1,737 yards and 15 touchdowns, and after the 2021 season was signed to a one-year contract with the Buffalo Bills. The Bills released Howard on August 30, 2022, and the Texans signed him one week later.

In Week 1 with the Texans he caught two catches for 38 yards and two touchdowns, but would end the season with just 10 receptions for 145 yards, and those two touchdowns were his only TD grabs of the season.

More on the 2023 NFL offseason, free agency

The NFL 2023 calendar year is set to begin at 4 p.m. ET on March 15 when contracts running through 2022 will officially run out, making those players free agents. Prior to the beginning of free agency, teams will have a chance to designate one franchise or transition tag player, starting on Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. ET and ending on March 7. Beginning March 13 through March 15 teams will be allowed a legal negotiation with players who are set to become unrestricted free agents.

In addition to NFL free agency, the new year also marks the beginning of all trades being made official by the league office. April 21 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets while April 26 marks the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets. 722 players are slated to become free agents in 2023.

More on restricted, exclusive rights free agents

Players with only three years of accredited NFL experience become restricted free agents. Their original team will have the option to apply first-round, second-round, original-round, and right-of-fight-of-first-refusal tenders on players at escalating price tags. The higher the round, the more expensive the tender amount; however, if a separate team does offer a contract and the original team does not match that round pick will be conveyed from the new team to the original team. Right of first refusal only gives a team the option to match or not. If they don’t match, they get nothing in return. An original-round tender would send a draft pick from whatever round the player was drafted back to the original team if they chose not to match. The original team will have five days to match once a player signs an offer sheet from a new team.