Tracy Howard, Jr. (born April 29, 1994) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their du ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

. Howard signed with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conferenc ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who i ...

in 2016.

Early life

A native of

Miramar, Florida Miramar is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 134,721. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which is home to approximately six million people. History Miramar w ...

, Howard attended

Miramar High School Miramar High School is a public high school located in Miramar, Florida. The school opened in 1970 and serves students residing in southwest Broward County; however, magnet students may hail from elsewhere in the county. Miramar High School se ...

. Playing wide receiver as a freshman, he was one of the targets of quarterback

Geno Smith Eugene Cyril "Geno" Smith III (born October 10, 1990) is an American football quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at West Virginia, leading the Mountaineers to multiple bowl game ...

. He was converted to defensive back in his sophomore year and remained at that position. Regarded as a five-star recruit by Rivals.com, Howard was listed as the No. 1 cornerback prospect in his class.

College career

Howard played college football for the

Professional career

Cleveland Browns

After going undrafted in the

2016 NFL draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft ...

, Howard signed with the

on May 5, 2016. He played in 15 games with three starts recording 20 tackles and one pass defended. On April 20, 2017, Howard was released by the Browns.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On April 21, 2017, Howard was claimed off waivers by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

. He was waived on September 2, 2017 and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He was released on September 8, 2017.

Miami Dolphins

On December 21, 2017, Howard was signed to the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Dolphins on January 1, 2018. He was waived by the Dolphins on May 10, 2018 with a failed physical.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Tracy 1994 births Living people People from Miramar, Florida American football cornerbacks Miami Hurricanes football players Cleveland Browns players Jacksonville Jaguars players Miami Dolphins players Sportspeople from Broward County, Florida Miramar High School alumni