If you want to talk about someone bursting onto the NFL scene, look no further than Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers. Selected No. 13 overall in 2024 (one of just seven TEs to go in the top 15 since 2000), Bowers played a key role in a massive upset win over the Baltimore Ravens, hauling in nine receptions for 98 yards in just his second NFL game.
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He went on to set new rookie TE records of 112 receptions (third overall in the NFL in 2024) and 1,194 yards (t-eighth). He became one of just 17 rookie TEs to ever make a Pro Bowl (there have been just four this century) and just the fourth rookie TE to be named First-Team All-Pro. The others were Charle Young (1973), Keith Jackson (1988), and Jeremy Shockey (2002).
Even with all that fame and recognition while playing in Las Vegas, which is quickly becoming the celebrity capital of America, Bowers still gets starstruck from time to time. Like when he met his team’s minority owner, Tom Brady, for the first time.
Brady was already a Super Bowl champion when Bowers was born in 2002, so when Kay Adams asked the 22-year-old what it was like to meet the GOAT, he couldn’t help but fan out a little.
“Yeah, I have [met Brady]. It’s awesome. I mean, it’s like you’re talking to a movie star, you’re just sitting there like watching TV. I met him at the rookie premiere in May last year, and then met him at the facility when he first came in this year,” said the former Bulldog.
Brady first attempted to become a minority owner of the Raiders about a year before he first met Bowers at the 2024 rookie premiere. He was looking for a 10 percent stake in the team alongside his business partner, Tom Wagner.
The other NFL owners felt Raiders owner Mark Davis was giving Brady too much of a discount. The issue wasn’t resolved until about a year and a half later, in October 2024. The revised agreement, which granted Brady five percent and Wagner five percent separately, was ultimately approved.
Since then, he has become something of a figurehead for the organization. He was reportedly heavily involved in bringing in new head coach Pete Carroll, and was “fully on-board” with the trade that landed them QB Geno Smith.
Bowers said that Brady spoke to him briefly about the QB’s go-to tight end during his own playing days: Rob Gronkowski. There are definitely some similarities between the two. Gronk himself has not been shy about heaping praise on Bowers, even if he is a rookie.
“He plays like a big man. He plays like he’s my size, and that’s what you’ve got to appreciate. He’s also just so smooth. He’s so decisive in his route running. He’s got great hands. He’s got a great knack for just going up and getting the ball in his hands and making the catch. … I love watching him go and I love his style of game, too. Even though he’s a smaller tight end, he plays like a big boy, especially after he gets the ball in his hands.”
That last bit is one of the underappreciated parts of Brock Bowers’ game. Last year, the 6’4″, 230-pound monster earned just shy of half of his yards after the catch.
His 596 YAC ranked fourth in the NFL and also represents the fifth-highest such mark for a TE in NFL history. No wonder Gronkowski, who loved to bulldoze a tackler or two whenever he could, is such a big fan.
