Pro Football Focus raves over Brock Bowers ahead of 2023 season

With EA Sports in the midst of preparations for the next NCAA Football game, Pro Football Focus has started to think about what players would receive the coveted 99 overall rating. Only a select few do typically. They’ve got five in mind including one Georgia Bulldog, tight end Brock Bowers.

Bowers is going into his third season at Georgia having played an important part on back to back national championship winning teams in 2021 and 2022. The Napa, Calif. native led the Bulldogs in receiving each year, hauling in 56 passes for 882 yards and 13 touchdowns as a true freshman before backing it up with an even better 63 catches and 942 yards. Combined with his rushing statistics, Bowers totaled over 1,000 yards and scored ten touchdowns for the 15-0 Georgia Bulldogs.

“Bowers has been a superstar since stepping onto Georgia’s campus,” PFF’s Max Chadwick wrote. “As a true freshman in 2021, he was the highest-graded Power Five tight end and the most valuable player at the position in college football, according to PFF’s wins above average metric. He was once again the most valuable tight end in the nation this past season and led the position in receiving yards (942), yards after the catch (479) and receiving yards after contact (274). Bowers’ 73.8 run-blocking grade in 2022 also ranked seventh among Power Five tight ends. 

“What makes Bowers truly special is his ability after the catch,” Chadwick continued. “Since 2021, his 1,001 yards after the catch are 328 more than the next-closest tight end, Michael Mayer. His 440 receiving yards after contact in that span also lead the position while his 26 forced missed tackles are second. He’s on track to go down as one of the best tight ends in the PFF College era and could challenge Kyle Pitts as the best tight end prospect since we began charting college football in 2014.”

Chadwick lists Bowers’ best attribute as his “ball-carrier vision.” His PFF ratings for 2022 shown on the social media graphic include a receiving grade in the 99th percentile as well as run-blocking grade, yards per route run and contested-catch rate all above 90 percent too.

PFF’s 99 OVR Rated Players in NCAA Football 24:

🐶 Brock Bowers pic.twitter.com/CqM3ZXqaXx

— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 25, 2023

Not only does PFF believe Bowers would be a 99 in NCAA Football 2024 if the game were coming out this summer, but the writers there think that Bowers would be an NFL starter this fall if he were playing at that level. They listed him as one of their five 2024 draft prospects who could be a starter at the next level right this instant.

“If Bowers could have declared for the NFL after his true freshman season, he would’ve — at least by our standards and recommendations,” PFF’s Trevor Sikkema said. “In his first year of college ball, he recorded a 92.2 overall grade with a 91.6 grade as a receiver. Last season, he remained elite with a 90.0 overall grade and a 90.0 receiving grade. In both seasons, he also was a plus blocker with grades in the 70s in pass protection and run blocking.”

“Over the past two seasons, Bowers has recorded more than 1,000 yards after the catch as one of the most dynamic inline players in the country,” he continued. “He’s listed a bit smaller than typical tight ends at 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, but there is no denying what he’s been able to do in the toughest conference and on the biggest stages with back-to-back national championship seasons.”

Former Florida tight end Kyle Pitts went No. 4 overall in 2021, the highest a tight end has ever been taken. The 2023 draft saw four tight ends go in the top 50 and nine in the first three rounds. Bowers would have been the first off the board in all likelihood and has a chance to go as high, or higher, than Pitts.

So, while Bowers won’t be in the NCAA Football game that comes out next summer, he’s pretty likely to hear his name called early in the 2024 NFL Draft next spring and be in a starting position that following fall. Georgia fans should know by now the kind of special talent that they get to watch for a third straight season in 2023, and they aren’t going to want to take any second of that for granted given it’s all but assured to be his last between the hedges.