Brock Bowers is ideal tight end for modern football in 2024 NFL Draft

Every NFL Draft follows a familiar pattern.

Large boards are built and “premature mock drafts” are published the previous summer, often identifying a player at a particular position (or positions) to be the clear top player at that spot. Masu. This typically occurs at the quarterback position, where players are being propped up to start the season.

Then, as the college schedule progresses, the work of pointing out the details begins. Players rise and fall, and last summer’s declarations suddenly disappear by the wayside.

This year at the quarterback position. Caleb Williams entered the fall as the consensus QB1, but the conversation changed with the addition of great years from Jaden Daniels, JJ McCarthy and Drake Maye in his final year at USC. Williams remains the top pick this past week, but the group is closing in on him.

Are there any positions where that hasn’t happened this season?

Tight end.

Georgia tight end Brock Bowers entered this year by far as the top prospect at his position. Despite the injury, Bowers is expected to be the starting tight end next week and likely the only tight end in the first round. What makes Bowers special?

A set of traits that translate well to the next level. Here we will focus on two important issues that, in summary, belong to the same theme.

Bowers can make explosive plays.

Bowers is a nightmare matchup.

Football is a competition-based game.

If you talk to coaches, players, scouts, etc., they’ll tell you that the higher up you go, especially in the NFL, the more important thing is the player. The old adage that the game is “more Jimmy and Joe than X’s and O’s” certainly applies to the professional game.

In today’s NFL, tight end ability has become the proverbial “matchup nightmare” and a potential cheat code for offenses. If the offense has a tight end that can run away from cornerbacks as well as linebackers and safeties, it will be a problem for the defense.

This is something Bowers always checks.

Perhaps if there’s one play that sums up Georgia’s tight end, it might be this one from the 2022 game against Missouri State. Since the Bulldogs face No. 1 and No. 10 near midfield, Bowers lines up as part of a three-receiver group on the left, across from pass rusher Isaiah McGuire, with safety Jalani Williams facing him. It gives about 5 yards of cushion.

Watch as Bowers first overcomes a jam at McGuire’s line, then runs right past Williams to make a big play in the passing game.

This is the kind of athleticism and explosiveness that will cause problems for defensemen at the next level. Add in some incredible adjustments at the catch point, and it’s the kind of highlight-reel play Bowers is capable of.

This is another example. This time it’s from Georgia’s national championship victory. TCU. In the third quarter, watch Bowers once again run over the safety for a touchdown.

These are both vertical routes through traffic, but this play against Alabama is another highlight moment for Reel this season. Bowers lines up in the slot and now the Crimson Tide plays Cover 4 against the safety. In space, Bowers sees him isolated as a one-on-one safety and creating separation on post routes.

Bowers does a good job of highlighting his defender’s influence with his jab step to the outside at the top of his route. Combined with his short-area speed, that’s all he needs to get separation back inside and be a huge benefit in the passing game.

Quickness in short areas is certainly a strength, which leads to the next attribute.

Elite YAC

Yards after the catch has always been an important factor for NFL offenses.

But in today’s modern NFL, it may be an essential element.

As more and more defenses lean into two-deep coverage, forcing quarterbacks to throw underneath in an attempt to eliminate big plays, offenses, or offensive players making quick throws underneath, turn into explosive plays. The ability to change is very important. It’s a crime.

That’s certainly something Bowers brings to the table.

Start with still images instead of videos.

This play by Bowers, circled in red, ends up as a touchdown for the tight end.

In the fourth quarter of the Georgia-Auburn tie game, Bowers found space against zone coverage and caught a quick inside cut just over 10 yards from the field. More than 20 yards later, Bowers was in the end zone and ran through the Tigers’ defense for a catch-and-run touchdown.

Or consider this play from the 2022 game against South Carolina.

Bowers finds space with coverage busts in the secondary, but from there it’s all about the tight end. He made multiple defenders miss in space en route to a 78-yard touchdown, with most of those yards coming after the catch.

Again, this turns into a touchdown.

His ability to create with the football in his hands made him a threat even when the Bulldogs left it on the ground. In the 2022 game against Kent State, the offense put an end to Bowers. Watch him rush into the secondary, erase the safety’s angle, and turn this handoff into a 75-yard touchdown.

Bowers’ athleticism makes him a threat every time he touches the football. There’s no doubt we’ll see better athletes on the other side of the field in the NFL, but that athleticism will still produce big plays in his NFL run.

Of course, there’s a lot more to playing a tight end in the NFL than producing explosive plays, and Bowers converts to a more traditional NFL tight end, tasked with inline blocking responsibilities, etc. You may face some questions about your abilities. But if you look at what he can produce in terms of explosive plays and focus on the blocking part of the position, you might be doing things the wrong way, or you might end up with Arthur Smith. do not have.

Explosive plays are a big part of today’s NFL, whether it’s the offense trying to create them or the defense trying to eliminate them.

The team that drafts Bowers will have another way to make explosive plays next season and beyond, maybe even more given his skill set.