Raiders’ Brock Bowers breaks Mike Ditka's rookie TE receiving yard record

Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers made NFL history on Sunday as he broke Mike Ditka‘s record for the most receiving yards for a tight end in a rookie season. He’s also the third rookie tight end to reach the 1,000-yard mark with the other two being Ditka and Kyle Pitts.

Entering Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, Bowers had 1,067 receiving yards, 10 yards shy of surpassing Dikta who set the record in 1961. The Raiders have struggled to find wins this season, but Bowers has been one of the bright spots for the team.

For his production in November, Bowers earned NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month honors. In the four games played in November, Bowers recorded 32 receptions for 349 yards and three touchdowns. Earlier this month, Bowers set the rookie record for the most catches by a rookie tight end with 87.

More on Brock Bowers’ monster rookie season

Earlier in the year, Davante Adams, who was with the Raiders at the time before being traded to the New York Jets, said (per Raiders.com), “I don’t ever like to put any expectation on a young player but the type of kid that he is, he literally only cares about football. “He showed some promise of looking like this guy that’s on the screen with us right now. I don’t want to do that to him or downplay what he’s done because he’s one of the best to ever to do it, and I totally mean that, but this young player is on a different level for a rookie and I think Baltimore got a chance to feel that a little bit.”

“Think he’s just growing,” Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said of Bowers at the time. “I mean, he really showed up in some critical moments for us. But what I love is the toughness, the physicality that he runs with, his play style down there, caught that ball in the third quarter and dragging the defender for a couple more yards to get us to the one-yard line. You just see that kind of energized our whole team and got him going. I think it’s really huge.”