The Cincinnati Bengals are to meet with tight end O.J. Howard and a deal is expected to be signed

O.J. Howard may move from one AFC contender to another. Less than 24 hours after being a Bills cut, the former first-round tight end is visiting the Bengals, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Should Howard’s physical check out, Rapoport adds Cincinnati is expected to add him to its 53-man roster. The Bengals lost C.J. Uzomah this offseason; Howard could end up helping fill the void.

The one-year, $3.5M deal Howard signed with the Bills translated to a fairly quick release. The Bills were using the former Buccaneers pass catcher deep into preseason games, and it became apparent the would-be Josh Allen target was not guaranteed a roster spot. As a vested veteran, Howard can pick his destination before most of the players who were Tuesday cuts. It appears he has done so.

While the Bengals do not have many holes across their roster, the defending AFC champions did lose Uzomah. They replaced him with Hayden Hurst. The ex-Ravens first-rounder did approach 600 receiving yards in his first Falcons year, but Kyle Pitts‘ arrival led to fewer receiving chances in 2021. Despite showing intermittent promise with the Bucs, Howard is nowhere near Pitts’ level as a receiver. He would provide an interesting complementary presence alongside Hurst, however.