Jordan Howard is caught in the quicksand of groupthink and narratives.

Everyone knows he’s not a good receiver and can’t help the offense on passing downs, right?

This is no ESPN 30 for 30, but what if I told you the Chicago Bears running back is actually a capable receiver who can contribute plenty on third downs?

What if the problem is something else?

It’s easy to point to the numbers and see an unproductive receiver. Howard totaled 20 catches for 145 yards and no touchdowns in 2018.

But sometimes statistics represent opportunity rather than ability. He was targeted 26 times this season, tied for 41st among running backs. Half of his total targets came over the first five weeks.

It’s hard for him to contribute as a receiver when he doesn’t have many passes thrown his way.

Howard’s lack of targets was not a reflection of a lack of receiving ability. Pro Football Focus charted him with zero dropped passes this season, and he did plenty with the passes he did receive.

He averaged 7.1 yards after catch per reception this season, according to PFF.

For comparison, Tarik Cohen averaged 7.6 YAC per reception, and new Bears running back Mike Davis tied Howard at 7.1 per catch.

When you isolate screen passes, Jordan Howard actually averaged more yards after catch per reception (9.17) than Tarik Cohen (9.07).

The two Bears running backs picked up their yards after the catch through contrasting styles, but it still equated to almost identical efficiency.

Yet Howard is viewed as an ineffective receiver because he had one-third of the opportunities Cohen did.

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One of the biggest issues for the former fifth-round pick was the types of routes he was asked to run.

Pro Football Focus recorded Howard running 226 routes during the regular season. Almost every single one had him running a handful of yards past the line of scrimmage and then turning toward either the quarterback or the sideline as a check down option.

This is the only play I could find where Howard was asked to run a more vertical route down field, and it happened in Week 1.

PFF charted Howard with an average depth of target of just 0.19 yards, which means, on average, he was less than a yard beyond the line of scrimmage when he was thrown the ball.

The biggest thing that held him back as a receiver was how he was used.

Howard was not asked to run routes down field. He was not put in position to make big plays. He was almost exclusively a check down option in Nagy’s offense, and he was just as efficient after the catch as Tarik Cohen in that role.

He did everything that was asked of him as a receiver, and yet he’s seen as a non-factor in the passing game.

He’s not going to line up at wide receiver and out-run cornerbacks 40 yards down field, but he can catch the ball out of the backfield just fine, and he was one of the league’s top pass-protecting running backs in 2018.

Howard is not an explosive athlete and never has been, but it’s lazy analysis to conflate a lack of speed with a lack of receiving ability.