Amid the turmoil, the Raiders have an OROY candidate in Brock Bowers

HENDERSON, Nev. – Brock Bowers is in the midst of a gigantic but somewhat inconsistent rookie season in the NFL.

His 87 catches are the second most in the league and are already a season record for most receptions by a rookie tight end with four games remaining.

His 933 receiving yards are the most among all NFL tight ends.

And his four receiving touchdowns rank third among all rookies in the league and first among rookie tight ends.

Pro Bowl? Bowers is on pace to become the first rookie tight end in more than two decades to be named first-team All Pro.

And all because the Raiders have already fielded three different quarterbacks and Las Vegas (2-11) is on a nine-game losing streak while also being on track to be one of the top picks in April’s draft.

But as Bowers prepares for the brightest lights of his biggest professional stage yet – a “Monday Night Football” home game against the Atlanta Falcons (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) – self-deprecation is a form of self-defense for the No. 13 overall draft pick last spring and a leading candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Somehow, there are times when Bowers, who is often compared to a unicorn because of his unique abilities, thinks he’s “bad” on the field.

Seriously.

“The whole time I was saying to myself, ‘Man, what am I doing out there?'” an exasperated Bowers said after the Raiders’ heartbreaking last-second loss to the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Black Friday.

A game, mind you, in which Bowers made 10 catches, scored 14 times and rushed for a career-best 140 yards and a touchdown.

“I mean, because then something could happen.” bad “That could happen on the next play and I’m like, ‘Dude, I suck again,'” Bowers said

“So yeah, I feel like that helps me play a little bit better when I think I’m not doing well because I want to do something good.”

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MORE THAN A When Bowers’ name was called for the Raiders in the April draft, few eyebrows and hackles were raised. A tight end was anything but a right tackle need for Las Vegas, and the Raiders already had Michael Mayer, a second-round draft pick a year earlier, and veteran free agent signee Harrison Bryant under contract.

But Raiders first-year general manager Tom Telesco stayed true to his philosophy and put the best player available on his board.

The Raiders have no regrets about passing on Bowers’ turnover. Not even a little.

“From the first day he walked in the building, he was just a different cat, man,” Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said. “He’s all about the ball. You just see him, everything he does, he’s always moving. Everything has to do with football, even if you just walk through the building.”

The book about Bowers, who grew up in California’s Napa Wine Country before playing his college ball in the Deep South in Georgia, said he was no-nonsense.

Almost boring.

And that description fit him as well as the two Mackey Awards he won as the best tight end in the country while helping the Bulldogs win back-to-back national championships.

It turns out that being bored was actually fun for Bowers, who said not much in the NFL has surprised him so far.

“Just the success that I had surprised me, I don’t know,” Bowers told ESPN. “You don’t know how you’re going to do at the next level and you question things. But so far it’s worked.”

On a personal level, yes. Translate into team victories? So…

The Raiders last won a game on September 29th. Bowers averaged five catches per game as the Raiders started 2-2. He averaged 7.4 catches during the Raiders’ longest losing streak since the 2014 season began at 0-10.

As both Bowers, who was named the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Month for November, and Pierce have acknowledged, they want his takeover of games to end up in the win column.

However, no one in the Raiders’ locker room has to worry about their personal success overshadowing the team’s needs.

“It’s unusual the way he’s acting,” said left tackle Kolton Miller, the Raiders’ longest-tenured player who was drafted in 2018.

“You wouldn’t expect him to be at the next level just mentally, that competition, that competitiveness, what he’s shown. His ability was impressive to see, especially from a rookie.”

As a cornerback, Jack Jones doesn’t often face Bowers in practice, but he likes what he sees on Sundays. Scratch that, he loves it.

“With his performance in the games, it speaks for itself,” Jones said with a laugh. “He’s breaking stats, making history, making plays, helping us win, helping us win. So I mean, shit, hats off to him.”

“The guy’s got some nice hands, man. He catches some difficult passes and makes difficult passes look easy. Not everyone could do that, especially given his size.”

The 1.90 meter tall, 100 kilogram Bowers is more graceful than goofy, more of a gazelle in the open field than a stampeding buffalo.

But as Pierce said, “He’s a receiver when the ball is in the air, and when he has a ball in his hands, he punishes people” like a running back.

While he shows the veterans in the locker room how to behave.

“I just like watching him, man,” receiver Jakobi Meyers said.

“I hope when I have kids, I hope they move in some way like him. I’m telling you, he doesn’t complain. He doesn’t cry. He doesn’t ask for the ball. He just goes and makes the plays that come his way.

The last rookie tight end to be named first-team All-Pro?

Jeremy Shockey, who caught 74 passes for 894 yards and two touchdowns for the New York Giants in 2002, following in the footsteps of Keith Jackson (1988) and Charle Young (1973) of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Pierce was teammates with Shockey on the Giants and while he sees some similarities, Bowers is different, Pierce said.

And Pierce, who played linebacker in the NFL for nine years, wouldn’t relish the task of mentoring Bowers, even if he had to accompany Shockey in practice.

“I point to the man next to me,” Pierce joked. “I’m going to search for a single digit or one of these DBs.”

Opponents have been putting their best cornerbacks on Bowers lately, from Pat Surtain II of the Denver Broncos to Jalen Ramsey of the Miami Dolphins to Trent McDuffie of the Chiefs.

“They don’t put too many linebackers on him as the game goes on and now we’re seeing double teams and they’re really shifting their zone on him,” Pierce said. “And to be honest, I don’t think it really matters. I think we have a very special player on our hands.”

“This boy is full of fighters. I just love it. And he’s the same guy every day. We get off the plane, he’s got his black shorts and black t-shirt on and he’s ready to go and get ready for work the next day.”

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BEFORE HE DID For Davante Adams, forcing his move to the New York Jets was a business decision, and he took a liking to the quiet rookie, calling Bowers a “businessman” because Bowers was all about business on and off the field.

Interestingly, Bowers will return to Georgia this offseason to complete his degree in business/real estate.

Bowers has to handle football business with the Raiders, starting with the Falcons and moving on to the Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Chargers.

If he catches six passes against the Falcons, Bowers will pass Michael Thomas for the fourth-most receptions by a rookie in a season in NFL history (Puka Nacua set the rookie mark with 105 catches for the Los Angeles Rams last season).

If he finishes with at least 67 receiving yards against the Falcons, Bowers will join Mike Ditka (1,076 yards in 1961) and Kyle Pitts (1,026 yards in 2021) as the only rookies to finish the season with 1,000 receiving yards ended.

Bowers is on pace for 114 catches, a single-season franchise record, and 1,220 receiving yards, which would rank him No. 2 all-time among Raiders tight ends.

But everything will sort itself out, he said.

“It helps to just focus on the next day,” he said. “You just focus on the next thing and not the big picture. It helps you hold on and do what you can do.”

“It’s football, it’s fun. It’s fun to be with the guys, fun in the locker room. And I mean, we try to have as much fun as we can, but we also try to hang in there and win games. And that was tough.”

Especially in a historically contradictory season.