Brock Bowers is off to an unprecedented start to his NFL career, and former All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski made the comment this week that the former Georgia standout might be a more talented pass-catcher than he was during his 11-year NFL career.
It seems like a long time ago that a handful of NFL pundits criticized the Raiders decision to draft Bowers. At the time, many felt the Raiders should have used the 13th-pick on an offensive lineman or cornerback.
Looking back to the draft, Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter talked about the team’s decision to select Bowers, and said there were three players that GM Tom Telesco was targeting with the no. 13 pick.
“Tom Telesco took a bunch of crap [after drafting Bowers],” Hondo said on the Las Vegas Raiders insider podcast. “In their pre-drafts, they saw no way that Joe Alt or Brock Bowers [would fall] to them.”
“The Raiders, as well as most of the NFL, thought there were three ‘dudes’ in the draft. [They were] Joe Alt, Brock Bowers and Taliese Fuaga,” Hondo said. “The Raiders had Alt and Bowers at 1A and 1B, and it didn’t matter. They were both the number one and Talise Fuaga was right there. They would have been thrilled to get any of those three.”
“Now the draft is falling,” Hondo continued. “So many bad drafting teams let Fuaga, let Bowers fall, fall, fall. The Raiders are there, and some people wanted to trade, but they [wouldn’t do it]. This is an immediate starter. This is a guy that you look at as a 10-12 year vet with big-time possibilities. We’re not trading him just for what the draft chart says.”
In the end, it seems like Telesco ‘hit’ on all three players he identified as draft targets, as Alt is already playing like one of the best offensive tackles in the league.
Fuaga was drafted by the Saints with the pick after the Raiders and hasn’t given up a sack in 119 snaps at left tackle, 48 of which were pass plays, according to Pro Football Focus.
