Brock Bowers scouting report: Exploring the Georgia tight end's strengths and weaknesses

Just outside the top-100 overall recruits in 2021, as a true freshman, Brock Bowers caught 58 passes for 882 and 13 touchdowns, along with four carries for 56 yards and another score. That made him a second-team All-American and first-team All-SEC selection.

His follow-up campaign was even better, hauling in 63 balls for 938 yards and rushing for another 109 yards on nine carries, including 10 total TDs, winning the John Mackey award for the top TE in the country. He just lost out to Michael Mayer for first-team All-American, whilst winning back-to-back national titles.

Brock Bowers scouting report

Blocking:

• Routinely used as the H-back and wing-man, while Darnell Washington lined up as the de-facto Y in prior years, before spending nearly 40% of snaps in-line last season
• Offers a good initial strike and is regularly able to turn guys on the edge further outside, so they don’t affect runs between the tackles
• Does well to get underneath the chest and/side of C-gap defenders and allowing linemen to pull around, such as on power
• You like what Bowers gives you leading the way out towards the sideline, lending a hand if necessary and snatching up DBs on fly sweeps for example
• Well-coordinated and fundamentally sound at securing blocks in space when split out, while continuing to re-fit his hands and never stopping his feet from churning
• Urgently approaches safeties or slot defenders and gives his teammates a clear indication of where to go on perimeter runs and screens
• Quickly turns himself into a blocker when he sees one of his fellow receivers secure catches and can land his hands into the frame of defenders at a high rate

Releases & route-running:

• Provides the vertical push to put off-defenders on their heels and come open as he breaks off intermediate routes since he can really drop his weight and make sharp transitions
• Has the footwork put himself in leverage advantages against press-defenders, leans into and nudges them off effectively to create separation at the top of the route
• Putting Bowers in stacks or bunches with his man in outside leverage becomes dangerous if he runs drag routes
• You can not allow this guy to zoom up the hashes uncontested or he’ll burn you, yet he also offers the nimble feet to elude ancillary defenders without really getting off track
• Shows a good understanding of widening his stem to create more space for himself as he breaks into voided space of zone coverage
• Frequently was able to create a favorable target pushing up to depth, rapidly turning around knifing upfield for good yardage on sit-routes over the middle
• Bockers can truly line up as a single receiver in the backfield and defeat corners
• Has posted elite PFF grades each of his first two seasons (92.1 and 90.0) with the Bulldogs, with passer ratings above 140 when targets in each of those

Approaching the catch & YAC:

• While tracking the ball early already, Bowers doesn’t reach out or back and lead defenders to initiate contact at the catch-point typically until he needs to
• Showcases high-level hand-eye coordination and does well on those awkward adjustments, having to reach behind or slow down as he’s running at full speed – only dropped eight of 178 catchable targets these past three years combined (4.4%)
• Displays strong hands in tight areas and has the frame to deal with contact, while naturally clearing the hands of defenders trying to contest the catch – hauled in 23 of 39 contested targets in his career (59.0%)
• He’s continued to become more effective at getting past defenders, identifying defenders in pursuit and crossing them up unlike – last season, he forced 18 missed tackles on just 56 catches, which is closer to a top-tier running back in terms of that rate
• You see Bowers constantly drag tacklers along and make those guys look small – Against TCU in the 2022/23 National Championship, the phrase “man amongst boys” was truly on display, as he hauled in all seven of his targets for 152 yards and a touchdown
• Pulls those knees up high to not have his leg cut down from underneath him and racked up at least 479 yards after the catch in each of his three seasons with the Bulldogs – only now-Ravens standout Isaiah Likely had more than 406 in any of those years
• That’s why the Bulldogs handed him jet sweeps, end-arounds and reverses as actual elements to the rushing offense, along with screens

Weaknesses:

• Undersized for an extended in-line role and wasn’t asked to do that a whole lot leading up to 2023
• When bigger edge defenders can get into his chest, they can dictate terms to him in the run game, and you see Bowers overextend as a result, which still leads to some unfavorable position
• More of a build-up speed than an instant explosion off the line I’d say (with no official timed speed on it)
• After excelling in that area coming into his junior season (70% combined), Bowers was only able to haul in two of nine contested targets in 2023 (22.2%) and he fumbled twice
• Won’t be able to bully defenders after the catch in the pros as he did in college

Any argument for Brock Bowers not being a top-10 prospect in this draft revolves around nit-picking and wanting to slap the label of “tight end” on him, which simply doesn’t encapsulate what role he’ll fulfill. If he was a pure slot receiver, he should probably be a first-round pick anyway. You can line him up at basically any of the eligible spots and he can win his matchups.

Positional value and how it compares with the money he’s actually going to be paid relative to a wide receiver in that range will be brought up. But this is a unicorn-like prospect who has absolutely dominated the SEC for the last three years, even if the NFL is still a big step up.

Grade: Top 10