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He hasn’t found the end zone much, but otherwise, Raiders first-round pick Brock Bowers is on course to have the best season ever for a rookie tight end.
Bowers, the 13th overall pick in this year’s draft, leads all NFL tight ends in catches (47) and yards (477), though he has only one touchdown in his first seven NFL games. Those prolific numbers put him on pace to shatter the league’s rookie tight end records. He’s in line to get 1,158 receiving yards, breaking Mike Ditka’s record of 1,076, set way back in 1960, and he’s on pace for 114 catches, which would obliterate the rookie record of 86 set last year by the Lions’ Sam LaPorta.
The high volume of passes headed Bowers’ way makes him a rare tight end who is truly his offense’s No. 1 target, especially since the Raiders traded receiver Davante Adams to the Jets. Across the league, only three other tight ends are leading their teams in catches and receptions: the 49ers’ George Kittle, the Patriots’ Hunter Henry and the Cardinals’ Trey McBride.
Bowers isn’t just leading all NFL tight ends in catches and receiving yards, he has 102 more yards and 13 more catches than Kittle, who is second in both. He’s in great shape to make the Pro Bowl as a rookie — and would be the third rookie tight end in four years to do so, following LaPorta last year and Atlanta’s Kyle Pitts in 2021. What’s wild is there was just one rookie tight end who made the Pro Bowl in the 30 years before that — the Giants’ Jeremy Shockey in 2002.
Besides Bowers, the 2024 class of rookie tight ends is incredibly unremarkable. The rest of them combined have 544 yards, barely more than Bowers has himself. They collectively have three touchdown catches, well down from the past two years, when rookie tight ends had 26 touchdown catches each season.
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Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/raiders-brock-bowers-pace-historic-season-rookie-tight-end
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Publish date : 2024-10-23 16:08:06
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