The evolution of the tight end position over the last 20 years has helped generate some impressive athletic profiles that tend to blur the lines between the TE, WR, and backfield positions.
Well, Las Vegas Raiders rookie tight end Brock Bowers plays with the contact balance of a running back, the strength of a fullback, the balletic body control of an elite TE, and the speed and explosiveness of a dynamic YAC threat at wide receiver.
Bowers is as physically gifted as any tight end who’s ever entered the league but didn’t exactly fall into an ideal fantasy landing spot. What can fantasy football managers expect from Bowers in 2024?
Brock Bowers’ 2024 Fantasy Outlook
- Total Fantasy Points: 170.5
- Receptions: 68.2
- Receiving Yards: 750.3
- Receiving TDs: 4.5
These are PFN’s consensus projections, correct as of August 15. The most up-to-date projections can be found in our Who Should I Draft Tool.
Should You Draft Bowers This Year?
If you couldn’t tell by my enthusiastic introduction to his seasonal projections, I am incredibly high on Bowers’ fantasy outlook, even in Year 1. His 175 receptions for 2,538 yards and 26 receiving touchdowns combined with his 193 rushing yards and five rushing scores at the TE position over his three years at a college football powerhouse gives him one of the most productive and dynamic prospects profiles in CFB history.
One could make the argument that Bowers isn’t just a TE prospect, he’s a certified weapon who can create mismatches with linebackers, safeties, and even smaller cornerbacks.
Bowers instantly morphs from a tight end into a running back after securing the ball by turning upfield with bad intentions. His lateral agility, twitchy acceleration, and play strength through contact are all objectively elite — which makes him a problem to get to the ground.
Better yet, problems have an answer. The better way to describe Bowers’ elite RAC ability is to label him an issue in that regard because I don’t believe an answer exists for opposing defenses.
Bowers is also a stalk-blocking menace out on the perimeter. He has the lateral agility to mirror quicker DBs on the perimeter and plays with physicality and effort to maintain his blocks 10+ yards past the line of scrimmage. Respectfully, anyone who suggests that Bowers can’t block probably hasn’t watched much of his tape.
Brock bowers can’t block okay pic.twitter.com/XgqecFS0R8
— Tre (@datway816) June 11, 2024
With all of the positives I just mentioned, how come Bowers isn’t already being projected as a top-three tight end in 2024?
Well, the subpar QB options with Aidan O’Connell and Garnder Minshew, a target hog in Davante Adams, and the presence of another competent in-line blocking tight end — Michael Mayer — with a year already under his belt in the NFL all present potential caps to Bowers’ fantasy ceiling his rookie year.
Yet, Bowers’ ADP at No. 98 overall (TE11) presents the type of price tag that allowed for almost all upside.
A Dalton Kincaid-like rookie campaign (TE11 last year) is certainly within the range of outcomes if Bowers is utilized mainly in a move TE role in passing situations while Mayer handles a bulk of the in-line duties like Dawson Knox in Buffalo last year.
However, if Bowers outright swipes the bulk of all snaps in 11-personnel sets with Mayer being relegated mostly to 12-personnel formations, then Bowers has top-five TE upside despite the lack of an elite quarterback because he’s simply that dynamic of a playmaker with the ball in his hands.