New York Giants Draft Preview: TE Brock Bowers

Brock Bowers might very well be the best tight end in this draft class.

Author:
Nick Falato
Publish date:
Apr 12, 2024

In this story:

Brock Bowers

NFL Draft

New York Giants

Brock Bowers, TE

Height: 6’3
Weight: 243 lbs
Class: Junior
School: Georgia
STATS

A former four-star recruit out of Napa High School in Napa, California, where he was the third overall California recruit and the second TE prospect in the 2021 recruiting cycle. Bowers played quarterback in his early high school years, before playing tight end and linebacker. He was the Napa County Player of the Year and was a preseason All-American before his senior season was canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

He wasted little time once he took his talents to Georgia; as a true freshman, he was a Second-Team All-American selection while earning the SEC Freshman of the Year. He was first-team All SEC in all three seasons in Georgia.

Bowers won two national championships (2021 & 2022), two John Mackey Awards (2022 & 2023), and was First Team All-American in 2022 while being honored as a Unanimous All-American in 2023. Bowers was one of the best tight end prospects in college football since day one, but his senior season was marred by a high-ankle sprain injury; it did not stop him from winning awards, but he did miss Weeks 8-10.

The three-time All-American turned 21 years of age in December. He did not test at the 2024 NFL Combine or his pro day due to a hamstring injury.

Strengths

* Thick proportional frame
* Excellent controlled athlete who fires off the LOS - good burst
* Tightly turns with very good agility in his breaks - elite build-up speed
* Great footwork into breaks - light on his feet for a TE
* Maintains build-up speed when angling into slight breaks
* Excellent short-area burst who is a threat in space
* Good top speed - clocked over 21 MPH multiple times in college
* Easy accelerator and long strides that quickly gets into the leverage of off-defenders
* Very good route runner with a diverse route tree
* Wins at each level of the field - a matchup nightmare for LBs and SAFs
* Smart vs. zone coverage - good spatial awareness to sit in the intermediate-deep portions of the field
* Will create separation vs. man and zone coverage
* Solid ability to get in and out of his breaks with good fluidity for a TE
* Natural hands catcher who maximizes his catch radius
* Adjusts well to football thrown off-target - soft hands to snag fastballs out of the air
* Good concentration and tracking ability when on the move
* Strong at the catch point - fights through contract and finds a way to secure the football
* 59% catch rate on contested catches
* Does an excellent job securing the football and quickly getting upfield
* Exceptional YAC ability - nimble enough to make defenders miss, physical enough to run through tackle attempts
* Run through defensive back type of power
* Great contact balance vs. DBs who don’t wrap up
* Versatile TE - can be big-slot, backside X in 3x1, H-Back, etc.
* Try hard blocker with solid technique
* Solid blocker in space against DBs - effort
* Lead blocks well with enough physicality to kick-out on split-zone
* Great competitive toughness as a blocker

[View more draft prospect scouting profiles.]

Weaknesses

* Undersized for a TE
* Maximizes his catch radius, but said radius is, unfortunately in the 37th percentile
* Not a twitchy athlete - but a very good one
* Although he ran a diverse tree, most of his 2023 targets were speed outs and screen passes
* Will struggle to hold up at the POA inline consistently
* Had tightrope surgery in 2023 to fix high ankle sprain; missed workouts in predraft process with hamstring issue

Summary

Brock Bowers will be an “X-Factor” player from day one in the NFL. Georgia used Bowers in a variety of ways; he was a threat at each level of the field, was used on play action slides and TE screens to get him into space, has seam-stressing build-up speed, and is a moose to bring down to the deck. It’s no surprise that he was in the top three of yards per route run at TE in each of his college football seasons.

He’s a natural receiver over the middle of the field with excellent contested catch ability. Despite only having 23rd percentile size, Bowers is an adept red zone threat due to his spatial awareness and processing as a route runner. Bowers also understands how to create separation vs. man coverage that doesn’t just rely on athletic traits. He quickly accelerates into the defender’s cushion, leans into contact at the break, uses the flipper, and has quick location skills to snatch an anticipatory pass out of the sky.

Offensive coordinators will receive ample flexibility with Bowers on their roster. Bowers won’t intermediate defensive ends as a blocker, but he’s functional enough to allow the offense to employ a 12-personnel package that will force defenses into lighter packages to account for Bowers’ receiving ability off play action.

He’s a nightmare for defenses to deal with in motion to create desired matchups on passing downs. While he’s not an inline dominant blocker, he can lose slow enough to be adequate; plus, he’s a solid, annoying blocker with good technique on the move. Bowers’ YAC ability is akin to a lean grizzly bear; he fights for every last yard with the contact balance to withstand, and run through, defenders who don’t exercise wrap-up tackling techniques.

Bowers may not possess the elite size/athletic combination of recent top tight-end selections like Kyle Pitts. However, Bowers is more of a natural receiver than Pitts, who was a good receiver in his own right at Florida. Still, Bowers’ skill set is well worth a Top-15 pick, and he should be a consistent difference-maker for whoever selects him in the first round.

GRADE: 7.14