Brock Bowers is Still the TE You Need if You Need an Elite Tight End

It would be difficult for Brock Bowers to match or exceed what was an incredible rookie season. But while repeating his 2024 feats may be beyond him, he’s still set to smash in fantasy football again in 2025 and justify a lofty average draft position.

Historic Rookie Campaign

By almost every measure, Bowers' 2024 season was a roaring success. For a newcomer, it was nothing short of incredible. Bowers led all tight ends in targets, receptions, and receiving yards with 1,194 yards from his 112 catches on 153 looks. He is one of only three tight ends to hit 1,000 yards as a rookie, and no tight end has caught more balls for more yards as a first-year player. He was only able to finish as the TE2 in Half-PPR, however, due in no small part to a slight aversion to the endzone. Bowers scored just five times, a tally exceeded by eight other tight ends.

Bowers displayed a multifaceted skillset as a receiver, as he not only led the way with 596 yards after the catch, but he also saw more deep targets than any other tight end (12). The fact that he was able to put up such incredible numbers with less-than-stellar quarterback play makes his deeds even more incredible. The Raiders' trio of starting quarterbacks in 2024, Gardner Minshew, Aidan O’Connell, and Desmond Ridder, combined for a meagre 82.4 passer rating, and the chemistry Bowers developed with his passers was not altogether electric. Minshew averaged just 6.86 adjusted yards per attempt targeting his stud rookie, while O’Connell was down at 5.76. But these numbers are partially due to the five interceptions the Raiders' passers threw when targeting Bowers.

All Change in Vegas

The Raiders are under new management for 2025, with Pete Carroll running the team, Chip Kelly calling the offense with Geno Smith at quarterback. Carroll’s appointment might, on paper, be seen as something of a negative for any player tasked with catching passes, given his apparent distaste for that mode of offense. During Carroll’s tenure with the Seahawks from 2010-2023, they ran the seventh most rushing plays in the entire league while calling the third fewest passes. Pete likes to establish and stay established. A middle-of-the-pack schedule, according to Sharp Football, may encourage the Raiders to keep the ball on the ground. The Raiders have the 18th hardest schedule in 2025.

But the appointment of Kelly is a fascinating one, even if he doesn’t replicate the breakneck pace of his Eagles and 49ers teams. Kelly’s offenses historically run a lot of plays, and while the ground game has been important to him – LeSean McCoy led the NFL in rushing in 2013 – pass catchers and especially tight ends have been strongly featured. Between 2013 and 2015, Zach Ertz and Brent Celek combined for 260 receptions and 3,264 receiving yards. Bowers has Michael Mayer for company in the tight end room, but he’s not going to cut into Bowers’ workload too much.

Geno Smith and the Passing Game

The addition of Smith is also a positive for Bowers. Smith has had his detractors over the years, but he has been able to develop efficient linkups with several disparate receivers over the years, with several fruitful partnerships with tight ends. Smith averages at least 7.5 adjusted yards per attempt with four tight ends over his career (minimum 50 targets), namely Noah Fant (7.51), Jeff Cumberland (7.64), Colby Parkinson (8.73), and Will Dissly (10.09). With all due respect to these solid professionals, none are in the same class as Bowers.

All signs point towards Bowers and wide receiver Jakobi Meyers dominating the receiving game for the Raiders, even if they can lean on the ground game more than we would like. The Raiders have a healthy number of vacated targets from a year ago, with 174 looks now available. However, the Raiders did not make any significant additions to their receiving corps in free agency or the draft. They spent their first-round draft pick on running back Ashton Jeanty, and he projects to be the focal point of the offense. But in terms of pass catchers, they spent a second-round pick on Jack Bech and a fourth on the intriguing Dont’e Thornton. Even if all three carve out roles in the passing game, Bowers has shown enough to ensure he retains the eye of Smith whenever the Raiders take to the air.

Fantasy Outlook

Bowers is the TE1 by our rankings and in fantasy drafts at present, enjoying an early second-round ADP in consensus rankings. He finds himself going after the likes of Brian Thomas Jr. and Nico Collins, and just ahead of A.J. Brown and Drake London. I am comfortable with this position. You'll find no bigger Brown supporter than me, and I believe London is primed for something of a breakout in 2025. But in terms of dominance within their offenses, Bowers has a chance to command a greater chunk of the Raiders' passing game than Brown and London, who both have to spend their time with stud running backs and decent pass catchers on the opposite side of the field to them.

The Bottom Line

• Bowers enjoyed a historic season in his first NFL season.
• Bowers has only a solid, if unspectacular, receiver in Meyers as competition for targets.
• The Raiders offense has a history of scheming up plays for tight ends and a quarterback happy to lean on the position.
• The players going after Bowers in drafts don’t offer the floor we can expect from Bowers in Year 2.