Greg Auman
NFC South Reporter
INDIANAPOLIS — Brock Bowers has been here before, with arguably even more on the line.
As the Georgia tight end walked into Lucas Oil Stadium, where the NFL Combine’s on-field testing is taking place this week, he couldn’t help but think back to January 2022 and the national championship game against Alabama, when he caught a fourth-quarter touchdown to help the Bulldogs to the first of back-to-back titles.
“It looks a lot bigger from the stands than on the field,” he said, a rare instance of anything seeming too big for the draft prospect.
Bowers caught 13 touchdowns as a true freshman at Georgia that season, immediately cementing himself as a future first-round draft pick, perhaps the future of the position in the same month that Rob Gronkowski played his final game. The league has star tight ends such as the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce and the 49ers’ George Kittle, and Bowers has put himself in position to quickly put his name among the best in the league.
“I grew up watching Gronk. I love watching Gronk,” said Bowers, who met Gronkowski briefly at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. “He’s kind of like a huge role model for me, looking at him when I was growing up. I also love watching Kittle and Kelce.”
Bowers isn’t as big as Kelce (6-foot-5, 250) or Kelce (6-foot-4,250), being listed by Georgia as 6-foot-4, 240 pounds and admitting Thursday that he played last season closer to 235 pounds. His 40 speed, especially for his size, is unquestionably strong, potentially under 4.5 seconds at a weight where that’s a rare number. He averaged more than 15 yards per catch in each of his first two seasons at Georgia, and his ability to produce yards after the catch is an NFL asset for sure.
Where does the tight end fit in today’s pass-happy NFL offenses? There’s still a value in quicker, pass-catching tight ends being used in high volume: Six tight ends caught 80 or more passes in 2023, two more than in…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/georgias-brock-bowers-ready-to-make-his-case-as-nfls-next-great-tight-end
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Publish date : 2024-02-29 20:18:56
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