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The Jets are attempting to negotiate a long-term deal with right tackle Austin Howard. What is his worth? Where is he at as a player?
This is smart, but the Jets shouldn’t break the bank.
He’s a solid player – not a star, but solid.
ESPN New York hit on the perfect benchmark contract for Howard – the four-year, $17 million contract ($8.5 million guaranteed) that New England Patriot right tackle Sebastian Vollmer signed last year.
Howard has turned into a very good run blocker, who consistently gets a lot of push in the running game. He’s a road-grader, as coaches like to say.
A perfect example of the movement he gets as a run blocker was in the second Jets-Miami game. In the middle of the second quarter, on a Chris Ivory gain of five up the middle, Howard drove linebacker Danelle Ellerbe back on skates. If he uses good technique, once he locks his hands on a defender, it’s tough for them to shed the 6-7, 335-pound powerhouse.
But he’s not just a massive guy who needs to block in the box. For a guy his size, he’s very athletic.
On a 15-yard run by Bilal Powell against the Carolina Panthers, Howard got to the second level and locked up linebacker Luke Kuechly. This was a very impressive play by the big fella.
Remember, Howard initially want to the University of Northern Iowa on a basketball scholarship, before switching over to football. On these kind of plays, you can see that he’s still got his quick feet from the hard wood.
But while the Jets should try to lock him up long-term, like I mentioned earlier, they shouldn’t go too crazy with the deal. This player still has some things to clean up.
In the Jets 37-14 loss in Buffalo in Week 11, Howard had a very rough outing, and showed a susceptibility to inside moves. Former Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, a former Jets assistant, now the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, coached his guys to exploit a weakness.
In the first quarter, on an Ivory run on the left side that lost five. Defensive end Alan Branch got by Howard with an inside move to help blow the play up.
In the first quarter, Geno Smith got banged-up on the first series, when defensive tackle Marcel Dareus beat Howard with an inside move, and crushed the quarterback on a pass that gained seven yards to wide receiver Greg Salas over the middle.
In the third quarter, Howard was beat with an inside move by Corbin Bryant and the defensive tackle stopped Ivory for a loss of three.
In the second quarter, outside linebacker Jerry Hughes beat Howard with an inside move, and pressured Smith into a poor throw.
So the player is still a work-in-progress in some regards.
But he’s definitely worth re-signing.
He’s a player on the rise, a very hard-worker, and a class act off-the-field. He’s the kind of guy you want in your locker room. Howard is a high quality person who gets it.
February 13, 2014
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