Brock Bowers and why he's tough to project in NFL Draft

Pinpointing a draft position for Brock Bowers is as tough as it comes in the 2024 NFL Draft. Experts across the industry believe he’s one of the best available players regardless of position, but with the premium that’s put on quarterbacks, offensive tackles, edge rushers and wide receivers over tight ends, Bowers seems to be slipping down the board some.

“I love Brock Bowers but when you sit there and do a mock draft, it is very hard to find a spot for a tight end,” ESPN’s Matt Miller said this week. “Every time I do a mock draft exercise, he’s coming off the board at like 13, 14,15 because those teams in the top 10 have so many needs, they’re most likely going to go big positional value. Quarterback, left tackle, wide receiver, corner, those are the top 10 picks this year. So for a player like Bowers, despite the fact that he might be one of the five most talented players in the draft, he tends to slip a little bit in the mock drafts.”

“He is tough,” NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah added. “He is easy to grade. I mean, when you watch him, he’s super easy to grade. He is one of the best ten players in the draft. Size-wise, speed-wise I think he is going to be very — he’s going to favor Kittle … Similar size and speed. Plays with just tenacity, especially with the ball in his hands. That’s where he is at his best. And the run game, when he can get into guys, he can finish them. He’s not the tallest or longest guy so there are times he can’t do that. Everything he does, separate easy. He can go get it. He can climb the ladder and go and get the ball, and really the run after catch stuff is what makes him special. The challenge is then figuring out where does he go in the draft.”

As Jeremiah pointed out, teams have come to see that there’s quality in the tight end position past the first day of the draft. While Bowers is different – and nobody is saying he’s going to fall out of the first round – the investment in the position doesn’t have to be nearly as big as it does for others.

“Teams are now saying, ‘Okay, we can find that other tight end. Maybe we don’t get the top guy, but we can get a really, really good player who might end up being the top guy without having to pay that premium.’ I also think that the Kyle Pitts thing, Kyle Pitts is as talented as any tight end that I have ever evaluated. You’re still dependent on the position of the quarterback, so depending on what you can get out of him. That coupled with the money difference, the savings you get by taking a premiere position in the top ten, it’s tough to place him to know how high he is going to go.”

Jeremiah has Bowers headed to Cincinnati at No. 18 where he’d pair well with the Bengals’ passing game of Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and potentially still Tee Higgins. He does however see the Indianapolis Colts as a fit at No. 15 if they wanted to add more explosiveness to their offense.

“There’s only one tight end that fits that bill (explosive), and that’s somehow if Brock Bowers gets there. As we’ve gone over the positional stuff, the financial aspect of it, the history, the draft history, even though he’s a top ten player in this draft, I would not be — I would not rule it out that somehow Brock Bowers gets there, and that would be ironic because I compared him to Kittle, but he reminds me of Kittle like in a Dallas Clark body a little bit,” Jeremiah said. “Similar in terms of how you would use Dallas Clark and move him and do all those different things. Kind of like if Kittle and Dallas Clark had a baby, it would be Brock Bowers. It would be a fun there with the Colts.”

Meanwhile, Miller has Bowers not getting to the Colts at 15. Instead, he’s off the board one pick earlier to the New Orleans Saints.

“It’s a lot like Bijan Robinson last year. We knew how talented he was as a player. It was really hard to find a natural fit for him. The Falcons obviously were pretty ok with taking a player early and they’ve got a great player. Bowers might be in a similar spot, not to Atlanta obviously but a similar type player. You’re got a team that is going to look at best player available, regardless of position, that’s Brock Bowers. we’re going to go ahead and draft him and know we’ve got a chance to get a Pro Bowl player.”

Bowers will be one of 11 Georgia players in attendance at the NFL Combine next week in Indianapolis. Coming off of the ankle injury that limited him down the stretch of the season, Jeremiah is not sure he’ll do much, but said Bowers should be ready to go for Georgia’s Pro Day in Athens come mid-March.