Antonio Pierce: Brock Bowers was the most dynamic TE in college football in a long time
The Raiders brought in tight end Brock Bowers with the No. 13 overall pick, setting him up to be a significant offensive weapon for Las Vegas moving forward.
During rookie minicamp over the weekend, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said that Bowers’ performance at Georgia was “just different.”
“I mean, you're talking about probably the most dynamic player in college football at that tight end position in a long time,” Pierce said in his press conference. “It's rare you get a guy like that [who] can line up as a slot receiver, see him in the backfield, reverses, catch the ball. But I think more importantly, [it’s] his toughness. Watching him block in the SEC, watching him get after guys, I mean that's what impressed me. Just a gritty player, more importantly a winner, and he can help us score points.”
While Bowers was a two-time John Mackey Award winner as the top tight end in the nation, Las Vegas still has 2023 second-round pick Michael Mayer, who displayed some promise as a rookie. Mayer finished his first year with 27 catches for 304 yards with two TDs in 14 games.
Pierce envisions Bowers and Mayer being successful on the field together, causing matchup issues.
“[Y]ou look at the National Football League it's difficult,” Pierce said. “I mean, being a former player going against 12 personnel, the matchups, the alignments that they get you in, what you do defensively I think becomes an issue as well. But you're looking at really — I think we're fortunate to have two tight ends on our roster, that in the last four years of college football were pretty much the best two, and I think hopefully that creates issues. It's going to create issues for us at practice, we'll see that. In our division, we've got some really good tight ends, so it'll be good reps for us as well.”
Las Vegas still has Davante Adams as its top receiver as well. Whether Aidan O’Connell or Gardner Minshew ends up as the starting quarterback, the Raiders should have several weapons to utilize in the passing game.
