Brock Bowers is long shot to win top rookie honors, but Raiders TE blazes record pace

In the aftermath of a heartbreaking loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Black Friday, Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce mustered high praise for Brock Bowers.

With sufficient reason: Bowers, the No. 13 pick in the draft, turned in his best game as a pro with 10 catches, 140 receiving yards and one touchdown.

“Just dominant,” Pierce said. “Obviously, one of the better players on our team. Keep finding a way to find him the ball. The bigger the moment, the bigger the rookie stands up and makes plays. It’s impressive to watch, especially late in the ballgame, making really big plays for us, tough catches. Really good ballplayer.”

Barring some unusual late-season circumstances, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels should take home the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. If he falls from his front-runner position over the final six weeks of the season, Bo Nix of the Denver Broncos – also a quarterback – is there to pick up the hardware.

NFL award voting has an inherent quarterback bias, and it’s typically justified. But if the 2024 OROY went to the first-year player having the most “dominant” season, then Bowers should have better than the ultra-longshot odds he currently faces. At minimum, he deserves more recognition despite his team’s 2-10 record and eight-game losing streak.

Pierce said opponents have been double-teaming Bowers and shifting their zones toward the Silver and Black’s No. 87.

"And to be honest, I don't really think it matters, man,” Pierce said. “I think we got a really special player on our hands."

To frame Bowers’ season thus far (12 games):

• His 84 catches leads the NFL and means he’ll almost certainly break Sam LaPorta’s mark of 86 set last year for a new rookie tight end receptions record.

• He and Odell Beckham Jr. are the only rookies with more than 80 catches in their first 12 games.

• The only other rookie tight end to have more than 800 yards through 12 games is Mike Dikta. If Bowers eclipses the 1,000-yard mark, he’ll join Ditka and the Atlanta Falcons’ Kyle Pitts as the only rookie tight ends to do so.

• His 17-game pace is 119 catches – which would set a rookie record – and 1,252 yards.

• His 35 catches of 10 or more is tied for the second most in the NFL and leads tight ends.

• Bowers now has 43 receiving first downs in 2024, the third most in the NFL and first among tight ends.

• His 445 yards after catch is tops among tight ends and fifth most in the NFL.

Bowers is doing all of that with one of the league's least enviable quarterback situations in the Raiders’ tandem of Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew, who’s now out for the year with a broken collarbone. Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was fired after nine games.

Against Kansas City, Bowers started slow (three catches, 21 yards in the first half) before his 33-yard touchdown and highlight-reel, one-handed catch – pass interference was declined – in the second half.

“To be honest, sometimes out there, I feel like I suck. Like I’m just out there, ‘I can’t do anything’ … ‘God what am I doing out there?’” Bowers said after the game. “I feel like that helps me play a little better, when I think I’m not doing well.”

Nobody would blame Bowers for feeling that way at various points of his rookie season. The Denver Broncos’ Pat Surtain II, freshly named AFC Defensive Player of the Month, hawked Bowers in the team’s Nov. 24 matchup. Bowers finished with one of his most unproductive performances in the NFL (four catches, 38 yards) but still drew 10 targets.

“I mean, we were still trying to get it to him, even with Surtain on him,” Raiders interim offensive coordinator Scott Turner said. “They put Surtain on him a lot, and things like that going to happen. We can move him around a little bit more. We have moved him around, and we can do more of that.”

At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, Bowers does not move or run like a traditional tight end. That provides his coaches with many options for how to best deploy the 2022 and 2023 Mackey Award – given to the nation’s best tight end – winner. (Bowers is the award’s lone two-time winner.)

“We always try to be creative and try to look and see what other people are doing, and maybe someone is doing something with – it's not a tight end, but we think, 'Hey, we can put Brock on this,” Turner said. “Just try to kind of keep evolving and keep moving forward in that direction."

Bowers may not be adding to his trophy case in 2024. But an evolved Bowers, with consistent quarterback play and coaching, sounds like a difficult assignment for NFL defenses in the future.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brock Bowers stats: Raiders rookie tight end setting record pace