Brock Bowers: The Dynasty TE1?
The tight end landscape in dynasty leagues can be tricky to navigate. Heading into this off-season, multiple candidates are vying for the top spot. Sam LaPorta, Dalton Kincaid, and Trey McBride specifically have made strong cases… but I believe Georgia sensation Brock Bowers is already the best tight end to have in dynasty leagues.
His freakish athleticism, physicality, receiving skill, blocking ability, and overall talent make him a generational tight end prospect who should be ranked at the very top in dynasty rankings.
The talent is undeniable
In Bowers’ freshman year with Georgia, he managed 882 yards receiving. This is quite impressive when compared to other freshman tight ends who have had great college careers in recent times, such as Mark Andrews or Kyle Pitts, who put together 391 combined yards in their first years. Even Trey McBride, who had over 1,100 yards in his last college season, only managed 89 yards in his freshman year.
After Bowers’ freshman year, he continued on to a 942-yard sophomore season. And extrapolating his 10-game pace in 2023 to 15 games would have seen him finish with 1,071 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior. In per-game production, he improved every year.
I recently dove in deep and studied some of Bowers’ film. Like many others who have seen him play, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There are a few clips I want to highlight that show a few major aspects of his game.
As fantasy football players, we love tight ends who can do damage after the catch. There is no tight end in the college game and there are very few in the NFL who can do that like Bowers can – not only with his impressive speed but his physical running style as well.
Us fantasy managers also love tight ends who can make plays downfield, and Bowers is your man for that as well. He can stretch the field on the outside and make huge contested catches. So not only will he make plays down the field, but if you find him in a one-on-one opportunity in the red zone, the ball is going his way to make a big contested catch.
While his athleticism in the receiving game is his best feature, his blocking skills should not be ignored. Six-foot-four and 240 pounds is not the biggest frame for a tight end, but he is aggressive, physical, and puts a lot of energy into his blocking to ensure his team’s success. At times he struggles against some bigger players, but overall for his size he’s a reliable blocker. That skill will keep him on the field in all situations, which will be helpful for not just his NFL career, but for us as fantasy players too. More trust in him and more time on the field means more chances to get the ball in his hands.
Those are just a handful of clips, but after doing a deeper dive into his game film, I consider it safe to say that he may be the best tight end prospect of all time. It will be amazing to watch the difference he will make for an NFL team and the difference he makes in fantasy football.
Can rookie tight ends make an impact?
Some may disagree with this take and rank him lower in dynasty because of the trend that tight ends often start slow in their careers. While I think that is a fair view, Bowers should be making an impact right away.
As a projected high first-round draft pick, whichever team selects him will likely be prepared to give him a significant workload. After all, they wouldn’t select a high-profile receiving weapon like him if they didn’t intend to utilize him as soon as possible. His impressive performance as a freshman in college suggests he could be poised to make a big impact in the NFL from the get-go.
Adding on, it may be time to challenge this assumption that tight ends can’t get off to a hot start in their careers. Recent examples of rookie tight ends such as Evan Engram, Dalton Kincaid, Kyle Pitts, and Sam LaPorta all averaged 48 yards per game or more in their rookie seasons. Not only did LaPorta hit that number, he also finished as the TE1 overall on the year. Players like Noah Fant, Greg Dulcich, and TJ Hockenson all had multiple games finishing as a TE1 on the week in their rookie seasons.
These players were able to shine because there were significant gaps in their offenses that allowed them to step up and showcase their talent. Given that Bowers is a better prospect than every one of these tight ends, and considering the expected draft capital he will receive, he is a tight end set up to break the trend that is already beginning to fade.
This is not Kyle Pitts 2.0
A lot of you who have read through this article are probably thinking: “Isn’t this the promise we made for Kyle Pitts?”. Yes! Yes it is! These are all things that were said about the Florida product we all wanted a piece of just a few years ago.
While overall he has been disappointing, as a rookie people forget he had quite the impact for the Falcons with 1,026 yards on 110 targets. Fantasy managers with sky-high expectations were disappointed due to only scoring one touchdown which is an extreme statistical outlier. Even while only scoring a single touchdown, he was the TE6 in PPR fantasy points. That is extremely impressive at the tight end position.
From his rookie season on, his struggles have come from injury, inadequate quarterback play, and Arthur Smith struggling with the concept of giving his most talented players the ball. He has limiting Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Pitts all for fantasy this past year. He himself is not fully to blame for his lack of fantasy football success so far in his young career.
As long as Bowers does not have a devastating step back, there is no reason he can’t have a 800-1,000 yard season as a rookie and continue the success that we were hoping Pitts would have. That start, along with his talent at the age of 21, gives him a strong case to be the TE1.
Looking at DLF’s Consensus ADP, you have a lot of interesting options for TE1 overall. spot, and while all of them are great, Bowers is younger and beyond most of if not all of these players as a prospect.
All in all, Brock Bowers is a 21-year-old legendary tight end prospect who is set up to break the trend that rookie tight ends cannot make an impact and produce right away. His career beyond his rookie year should only get better and better. Therefore, he should be the highest-ranked tight end in dynasty fantasy football.
- 2024 1QB Rookie Mock Draft - April 24, 2024
- 2024 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Drafts: A View from the 1.10 - April 14, 2024
- Brock Bowers: The Dynasty TE1? - February 14, 2024
