The Raiders took some criticism for drafting Brock Bowers in the first round of the 2024 draft, but after two seasons in Las Vegas, no one is taking that position now.
Bowers is arguably the best tight end in the NFL and the ceiling for his career could end up being among the best to ever play the position.
Flagship radio host ‘JT the Brick’ talked about Bowers last week after watching him at training camp, and the longtime host said Bowers continues to play tight end like no one he has ever seen.
“Brock Bowers again was ridiculous. Brock Bowers put on another show today,” JT said on his Raider Nation Radio show on Friday.
“I’ve seen a lot of great football players in my life. I grew up with Lawrence Taylor. I followed Reggie White, Joe Montana, John Elway. I swear on my kids, Brock Bowers is going to be one of the greatest football players to ever live. This guy practices like it’s the week of the Super Bowl. Today, he was running routes, he’s catching balls. He can catch anything with one hand.”
“When he catches the ball in front of you, he catches the ball and the vision that he has to get up field is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Someone described it to me today like it was Raymond Chester in his prime, or even better than Dave Casper, who turned out to be a Hall of Famer.”
Former Vegas OC Compares Bowers to Drake London
Scott Turner was the pass game coordinator and interim offensive coordinator in Las Vegas during Bowers’ record-breaking rookie year, and Turner said last week Bowers could play wide receiver and might actually be more explosive than Drake London.
“Day to day, his understanding, everything about the game just comes really easily to him. You correct him on a technique, he’ll never make the same mistake twice. He sees the big picture, so you can line him up in any different spot on offense, and he’s going to be able to do it,” Turner said on the Just Win podcast.
“I think if he just played receiver, if he wasn’t a tight end, if he played receiver, I think he’d be very similar to Drake London in Atlanta… And he’s actually probably a little more juice than him, like as far as his explosiveness and speed.”
Rivals GM didn’t think the Raiders would draft Bowers in ‘24
The California Post’s Vinny Bonsignore said last week that while draft pundits were shaming the Raiders for taking a tight end with the no. 13 pick in the 2024 draft, NFL executives were frustrated that former GM Tom Telesco took Bowers off the board in that position.
“I remember Brock Bowers, when they picked Brock Bowers, [an opposing team’s executive] was a little upset because there were a lot of people that loved Brock Bowers,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s JT the Brick Show.
“There were a lot of people, trust me, I talked to about four or five people from other teams that [Bowers] was their guy. They didn’t think that the Raiders were going to draft him that high because they had just drafted Michael Mayer. So there were some cuss words after that one, after Brock Bowers, because his team was one of the teams, one of the many teams that were drafting right behind the Raiders that wanted him.”
For what it’s worth, the teams directly behind the Raiders in the 2024 draft were the Saints, Colts and Seahawks.
And it’s also no secret the Rams were trying hard to trade up to the 13th pick to get Bowers.
x: @raidersbeat