Brock Bowers could be a game changer amid Jets interest

NFL

nfl draft 2024

from Mark Cannizzaro

The NFL, like many sports, is a copycat league.

And in the case of the tight end position, every team in the league is trying to find the next Travis Kelce … or even George Kittle.

Tight end has become the changing position in the league.

The question now is this: Is Brock Bowers, the next game-changing tight end, ready to shine it in the NFL?

The numbers Bowers put up at Georgia and the success the Bulldogs had with him on the field are indicators that he has a chance to be at least as good as Kelce and Kittle.

Bowers, by far the top tight end prospect in the upcoming draft, finished his collegiate career as the SEC’s all-time tight end leader in catches (175), receiving yards (2,538) and receiving touchdowns (26).

All of these numbers were also the highest nationwide from 2021-23.

And they came as Georgia won 42 of 44 games during his college career, capturing College Football Playoff national championships in his freshman and sophomore seasons.

Bowers is also the first college player with 25 or more receiving touchdowns and five or more rushing touchdowns in a career since Tavon Austin did it at West Virginia from 2009-12.

“He could be the best player in the draft, 100 percent,” Anthony Becht, a former Jets tight end and current head coach of the St. Louis Battlehawks of the United Football League, told The Post this week. “He’s an elite route runner and pass catcher. He changes the game with the ball in his hands after the catch.”

Becht’s main message to whichever team Bowers chooses — likely his former team, which has been linked to him and needs big-time offensive talent to pair with Aaron Rodgers — is to use him early and often.

“If you’re going to go get Brock Bowers, you better get him the football and you better make sure he’s implemented into your offense because you’ve got to get the value out of him when you bring a guy that high,” Becht said. “He can change the game. The most important thing is that you have to get these guys the ball. When you take a guy in the first round, you have to force feed those guys. You have to give them the football early so they can make the difference in your attack.

“If Brock Bowers gets picked at No. 10 [by the Jets] and if you take the football away from him and make him an integral part of the attack, he will be worth every penny.”

Mel Kiper Jr., ESPN’s draft analyst, echoed Becht’s assessment of Bowers’ potential.

“He could be the NFL Rookie of the Year if he goes to the right team and the right quarterback,” Kiper said.

In the case of the Jets, they’re clearly in winning mode now, with the 40-year-old Rodgers’ expiration date likely no more than a year or two away.

Top receivers Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers and Reem Odunze are likely to be off the board when the 10th pick arrives. That makes Bowers a real option for them — unless they want to continue to bolster their offensive line with the best tackles available.

Bowers acknowledges the influence and attention that Kelce, Kittle, et al. get in the league.

“Tight end is a premium position right now,” he told reporters on the scouting staff. “I’m just glad it’s now.”

He caught 56 ​​passes for 714 yards and six touchdowns in just 10 games last season and was at his best in the biggest games.

“I feel like ever since I was younger, I’ve just always wanted to be, at least try to be, the best,” Bowers said at the combine. “I feel like that really pushed me. I’m trying to outdo the guy next to me.”

He said he grew up looking up to former Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski as a “huge role model,” adding, “I also love watching Kittle and Kelsey.”

Bowers, at just under 6-foot-4 and about 235 pounds, isn’t as big as Kelce (6-5, 250) or Kittle (6-4, 250).

He still believes that with his 4.5 speed in the 40, he can put up the numbers these guys have as a matchup problem.

Bowers appears NFL-ready based on the pro program in which he excelled.

“We were going against first-round dudes on defense every day in practice, and that kind of development, facing that kind of competition every day, really improved my game and helped me,” Bowers said of college.

“He’s not going to be a guy that’s going to come into the NFL and drop balls and be unsuccessful,” Becht said. “He’s past that. He has played in front of 100,000 every week in the biggest games on TV. He is a performer. That’s what he does.”