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THE Las Vegas Raiders may have found the next Travis Kelce with their 2024 first round pick.
With the No. 13 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Las Vegas Raiders selected tight end Brock Bowers out of the University of Georgia.
Brock Bowers is off to a stellar start in his rookie season[/caption]
Bowers is among the NFL’s rookie leaders in receptions and yards[/caption]
It was apparent pretty early on in Bowers’ college career that he was a special talent.
In his freshman year at Georgia, Bowers hauled in 882 receiving yards and scored 14 touchdowns in just 15 games.
During his three-year career with the Bulldogs, Bowers had 2,538 yards and 31 total touchdowns.
Those numbers dwarf legendary tight ends like Rob Gronkowski and George Kittle.
Even Travis Kelce never had a season like Bowers during his college career at the University of Cincinnati. His best season had 722 yards with eight touchdowns.
With the numbers he had out of college, it was all but guaranteed he would be selected in the first round of the draft.
What was crazy was that he fell to No. 13. Multiple other teams in front of the Raiders could have picked a tight end but decided to go for another position.
The Los Angeles Chargers picked an offensive lineman in Joe Alt, the New York Giants grabbed a wide receiver in Malik Nabers, the Chicago Bears took wide receiver Rome Odunze, and the New York Jets picked up offensive tackle Olumuyiwa Fashanu.
It felt like there was no way Bowers would make it out of the top ten picks, but the Raiders somehow lucked their way into him falling to the No. 13 pick.
Some of those teams are probably kicking themselves now, as Bowers is already showing off as one of the top talents in this year’s rookie class.
In the first three games of the season, Bowers has recorded 197 receiving yards, but is still looking to score his first touchdown.
Bowers has the third most receiving yards of anyone in the entire 2024 rookie class, and the second most receiving yards of any tight end in the NFL this year.
His 18 receptions this season are the most of any tight end in the NFL, demonstrating how much the Raiders already trust him in their offense.
While he hasn’t found the end zone yet, Bowers is on pace for a historic season. The 21-year-old tight end is set to finish the year with over 1,100 yards if he keeps up his current pace.
That number would make Bowers just the third tight end in NF history to have a 1,000-yard season in their rookie year, following Mike Ditka and Kyle Pitts.
Crossing 1,100 yards would also set the record for most yards by a tight end in a rookie season, taking over from Ditka’s 1,076 set in 1961 with the Chicago Bears.
NFL important dates
August 1 – Hall of Fame Game – Houston Texans vs Chicago Bears
August 8 – Pre-season begins
August 27 – Deadline for 53-man rosters
September 1 – Final day of pre-season
September 5 – Season opener – Baltimore Ravens vs Kansas City Chiefs
November 5 – Trade deadline
January 5 – Week 18 of regular-season
January 11 – Playoffs begin
February 9 – Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Louisiana
The legends of the NFL are taking notice of Bowers’ impressive performances and already shouting him out as a future star. Gronk gave Bowers a huge vote of confidence, saying he can be even better than the former New England Patriot and Tampa Bay Buccaneer.
“Brock Bowers, I was a big fan of him when he was at Georgia,” Gronk told Kay Adams.
“I feel like he’s on track to be better than myself. I don’t think he can dominate in the trenches the way I dominated in the trenches.
“But just overall as a pass-catching tight end, I think he can surpass me in many situations.”
Fantasy football fans are probably extremely pleased with Bowers’ season too. He is the No. 2 scoring tight end in PPR formats and was drafted as the No. 11 tight end.
Bowers is on track for superstardom, and will likely be a top name in the NFL for years to come.
Bowers is on pace to break multiple rookie tight end records[/caption]
