Former Raiders GM Tom Telesco took some criticism when he drafted Brock Bowers with the no. 13 pick in last year’s draft, but the decision turned out to be a good one.
Bowers was a first-team All Pro in his rookie year and is already one of the cornerstones of the team at the ripe young age of 22.
It’s no secret that Telesco was taking offers for the 13th pick with Bowers on the board and the team believed to be pushing the hardest for Bowers was the Los Angeles Rams.
Based on a released conversation during the draft between the Rams and the Jets, it’s a safe assumption that the Raiders turned down picks 19 and 52 for the 13th pick they used on Bowers.
For the first time publicly, Telesco talked this week about the Raiders’ decision to take Bowers, and it sounds like the University of Georgia tight end was not initially one of their top targets leading up to the draft.
“We preferred to take a premium position in the first round of the draft and on the pay scale, tight ends don’t fit in that group. [Drafting Brock Bowers] was something he had kind of pushed to the side even though we knew how good he was,” Telesco said on the Check the Mic podcast.
“[But] as we got later in the process, the way I looked at it, what he could bring to our offense, what he could do, I kind of went off the script a little bit and decided to go that route and I’m glad we did. He’s an outstanding player.”
Obviously, the thinking in the Raiders’ building changed significantly because they turned down significant trade offer for the opportunity to draft Bowers.
Telesco also acknowledged that Jayden Daniels was the quarterback the Raiders really wanted.
Jayden Daniels. That would have been easy,” Telesco said. “But then when we got into J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix and Michael Penix, as far as trading up for those guys, that I was not as much into. To give up that many assets, because we were going to have to give up a lot of draft picks. We needed as many as possible to try to build up the team. So that would have been a hard move to make to trade up for one of those quarterbacks… other than Jayden Daniels that was going to be a non-starter.
Telesco pointed to injury concerns around Penix as a concern but added that drafting Nix was in consideration.
“Bo Nix, his background of work, his durability, his movement skills. That one was interesting, and he’s gone to the perfect team. That would have been a good possibility,” Telesco said.
