Raiders rookie Brock Bowers quietly having record year

HENDERSON, Nev. -- Yes, Brock Bowers is keenly aware of the laurels being lobbed at him.

No, the Las Vegas Raiders rookie tight end is not about to rest on any of them. Not with the Raiders riding a three-game losing streak, despite Bowers setting marks not seen in at least a generation.

"I mean, I see stuff on Twitter and stuff," Bowers acknowledged. "But our focus is for the team to win games. So, you get on that track."

The thing is, with the Raiders' record just 2-5, it would be a muted celebration of Bowers' early-career accomplishments anyway.

Bowers' 47 receptions not only led the entire NFL through Sunday's games, he had the most catches by any tight end through their first seven career games since 2000.

Plus, Bowers' 47 catches are the third-most by any player in his first seven games in NFL history, trailing just Puka Nacua (58) and Saquon Barkley (49).

And Bowers' 477 receiving yards, which led all NFL tight ends through Sunday, were also the third most by a tight end in his first seven games in NFL history. Only Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka (505 in 1961) and Kyle Pitts (484 in 2021) had more.

"Even when he's covered, he's open," Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said. "That's how I look at it. Throw him the rock, big hands, big mitts, he catches everything around him."

The Raiders caused a bit of a stir when they used the 13th overall draft pick on him in April. After all, Las Vegas seemingly had more pressing needs on the offensive line, and the Raiders seemed set at tight end after using a second-round pick on Michael Mayer a year earlier and signing Harrison Bryant in free agency.

Bowers, seen as equal parts Swiss Army knife and generational talent at the position, was too good to pass up, and Raiders first-year general manager Tom Telesco rolled with best-player-available over need for his first-ever pick with Las Vegas.

No one has looked back since.

The Raiders placed Mayer on the non-football illness list Oct. 11 and expect him to eventually return. But his absence has forced Las Vegas to rely more heavily on the rookie.

And Bowers, a two-time Mackey Award winner at Georgia as the nation's top tight end, was only too willing to step up.

Then again, he knows no other way.

Bowers also had a familiar face in draft classmate Trey Taylor, a safety from Air Force who worked out with him in preparation for the draft.

So what makes the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Bowers, who also runs 4.5 seconds in the 40, so unique?

"I ask myself that sometimes," Taylor, the reigning Thorpe Award winner as the nation's top safety, said with a laugh.

"I see him on the field, and he looks like an average, regular Joe. You see him outside the locker room, he looks like a computer software engineer. But you see him on the field and he just moves different. He's athletic, but he's also physical. He's really good at the point of attack and he loves to break tackles. So yeah, he's going to be special for a long time."

Mayer will have to miss at least two more games and Bryant suffered a left elbow injury late in the Raiders' 20-15 loss at the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. So the offense, which will be without starting quarterbackAidan O'Connellfor four to six weeks with a broken thumb on his right (passing) hand, will likely have to lean even more on Bowers.

After all, former WR1 Davante Adams was traded last week to the New York Jets and WR2 Jakobi Meyers missed the last two games with an ankle injury.

"He's a stud," Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby said of Bowers.

"Since the day he got here he's been quiet, confident, just a baller. He's already one of the better tight ends in the league. He catches everything, runs through tackles, makes people miss. He's a complete package. I love that he's on our team."

Bowers, who grew up in Napa, California, and took in Raiders training camps when they were at his middle school -- "I think I got Derek Carr's autograph," he said -- graduated from Napa High School early and left for Georgia during the pandemic in 2021.

The athleticism in his family runs deep -- his mother, DeAnna, was an All-America softball pitcher at Utah State who later joined the school's athletic Hall of Fame, while his father, Warren, was an all-Big West center on the Utah State football team. His older sister Brianna played softball at Sacramento State.

As Brock Bowers said, his athletic upbringing in wine country and playing football in the south had the biggest impacts on his easygoing demeanor.

"I go about my own business and, whenever I'm in the building, I just kind of focus on football and yeah, just getting after it," he said.

Given the Raiders' lot, and Bowers' early production, those opportunities will only grow in the coming weeks.