Despite playing with three different quarterbacks in his first NFL season, Raiders’ tight end Brock Bowers is second in the NFL in receptions (87), behind only Ja’Marr Chase (93) with four weeks remaining in the season.
In most years, Bowers would be the front-runner for the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Year honor, but quarterbacks tend to get preference with the award and Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels has given the league some of the biggest highlights of the season. The Commanders are also much more relevant than the Raiders.
Nevertheless, Bleacher Report’s James Palmer, formerly with NFL Media, has been making the case for Bowers to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award, and he shared what he has been hearing about Bowers in a recent clip for Bleacher Report.
“I’m doing a little piece on the rookie pass catchers and getting their grades… It’s supposed to be the rookie receiver class, and everyone I talk to from coaches, GMs, executives, everybody just goes ‘Well, the best pass catcher is Brock Bowers and it’s not even close.'” Palmer said this week.
“I think we know that from the stats. [Bowers] should be rookie of the year, it’s a quarterback league and probably a quarterback wins it, but he should win rookie of the year. What other teams that have gone against Brock Bowers are saying about him is unbelievable. You don’t talk about rookie players like this very often…”
“I did the Chiefs-Chargers game, they have [both] played him,” Palmer continued.
“Talking to guys on those staffs, they’re like, ‘His ability to use leverage, use his body, leverage within a route, box out defenders, get the football anywhere on the field… some of the IQ stuff he has is what a tight end uses in year 7, year 8, and he’s a rookie.’ I had a coach on one of those two teams tell me there’s only one player in the league that can guard him. That’s it, and it’s Patrick Surtain of the Broncos because he has the size, he has the length, he has the athleticism. They were like ‘Nobody else can stay with him. He is already making a case to be the best tight end in football.'”
As of week 14, Daniels and Denver’s Bo Nix remain the favorites to win the ROY award, but it was Bowers who walked away with November’s Offensive Rookie of the Month.
Daniels won the NFL’s September Rookie of the Month and Nix won the award in October. With Bowers winning in November, all three top candidates have claimed the award once.
For what it’s worth, the Bowers pick was not considered by everyone to be a solid pick in last year’s draft. The Raiders tried to trade up for Daniles, but Washington wasn’t biting, and Bowers was the best player available on the Raiders’ board.
League insider Mike Sando quoted two NFL executives in May that believed it was a poor decision on the Raiders part to draft a tight end at pick 13.
“I think they were stuck once Atlanta took (Michael) Penix and they were like, ‘Oh, crap, we might not get a quarterback to fall to us,’ and they scrambled and took that kid,” an exec told Sando on the Bowers selection. “He is a good player, but a luxury item. I don’t like those kinds of picks unless you have everything else.”
“Bowers is not like Dalton Kincaid where you can create separation in the normal flow of the offense,” another exec said. “You have to move him. He would be ideal in San Francisco or Miami. Whereas Kincaid is special at the top of the route, Bowers is one-cut, catch it, break three tackles and he’s gone. Hopefully, they have a good plan for him because he can do some really unique things with the ball.”
In an NFL Films video released in June, a draft day conversation between the Rams and the Jets revealed the strong interest the Rams had in trading up for the 10th pick in the draft.
It was no secret that the Rams were trying to trade up and the assumption has been that they were targeting Bowers. If that’s the case, it would make sense that the Raiders were offered the same deal for pick 13 (with Bowers on the board) that the Jets were offered for pick 10.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport has reported that the Rams were aggressively trying to pull off a trade until Bowers was drafted by the Raiders. He also said the Rams and Colts were among a group of teams that were believed to be trying to trade up for Bowers.
There’s no reason for the Raiders reveal the offers they received for the 13th pick, but it is believed that they had a top 5 grade on Bowers going into the draft. GM Tom Telesco said the Raiders never expected Bowers to be available at pick 13 and his decision to hold on to the pick, despite significant offers, would support that belief.
Based on the conversation between the Rams and the Jets, it’s probably a safe assumption that the Raiders turned down picks 19 and 52 for the 13th pick they used on Bowers.
As for the Rams, they probably aren’t losing any sleep over the fact they couldn’t move up in the draft. They ended up taking Jared Verse with the 19th pick and he is the current favorite to win the league’s Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
x: @raidersbeat
Well the Raiders in the past 10 years let go of the only consistent Quarterback carr because of a terrible coach…they let go josh j who has close to a 1000 yards for the pac because some brain in management who’s no football knowledge and renfrow and Aguilera two good receivers were let go because they wanted a superstar who took the money and left and still complaining about the team instead of moving on… i wonder if one share holder bought out the other shares all the little shares will that make them the rightful owner… is MD in the right state of mind selling off the Raiders he should have kept 50% of his team… strange very weird very nutty like a pair of Balls with no use… very very Strange….
Now do the right thing and get Cam Ward from Miami. A dual threat qb would compliment him. NY can have sanders.