Brock Bowers: 5 Things To Know About NFL Draft's Top Tight End Prospect

The 2024 NFL scouting combine continues in Indianapolis on Friday, when this year's prized tight end will take his turn in the draft spotlight.

Former Georgia standout Brock Bowers, the consensus top tight end prospect in this class, is among the 16 players at the position expected to take the field at Lucas Oil Stadium at 3 p.m. ET for on-field workouts. After forgoing his senior season with the Bulldogs, Bowers is a projected first-round pick heading into the combine—where he has also had a chance to interview with NFL teams this week just two months before the draft.

While decision-makers assess whether he could be their tight end of the future, here are five things to know about Bowers as draft season heats up, from his All-Pro NFL comparison to where pundits predict the Bulldog to go on draft day.

Bowers NFL Mock Draft Projections

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Bowers is a lock to hear his name called on the 2024 NFL Draft's opening night. But how long will he have to wait? Based on a roundup of recent mock drafts, the answer may be only a handful of picks.

The Los Angeles Chargers selecting Bowers at No. 5 overall has been a popular projection of late, with USA Today's Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, CBS Sports' Chris Trapasso and The Athletic's college football staff all listing the Bolts as the tight end's landing spot in mocks published this week. Elsewhere, ESPN guru Mel Kiper Jr. has Bowers going 10th-overall to the New York Jets. NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah predicts the Cincinnati Bengals will take Bowers at No. 18 overall, though admitted that is probably a stretch.

"It's highly unlikely Bowers falls this far in Round 1," Jeremiah wrote. "But let's just pause and dream for a moment about seeing him joining forces with Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase."

Bowers Draws Pro Comparison to George Kittle

Bowers resembles the NFL's 2023 All-Pro at tight end, at least in the mind of one analyst.

Lance Zierlein, a draft expert for NFL Media, lists five-time Pro Bowler George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers as the Georgia tight end's professional comparison in a scouting report for the league's website. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound soon-to-be pro, Zierlein writes, is similar to Kittle as a "prolific pass-catching tight end with a rare blend of acceleration, speed, body control and hands that could breathe new life into a stale NFL offense...Bowers' secret sauce might be his ability to rip through tackles and pile on yardage after the catch."

The one area, though, where Bowers' game falls far short of Kittle's—for the sake of further comparison—is as a blocker at the point of attack, the report states.

Other weaknesses attached to the 21-year-old's profile are a need to improve underneath route running, a limited catch radius and an up-and-down history with contested catches. One unnamed NFL scouting director told the league's website that Bowers doesn't have the "freaky measurables" of former first-rounder Kyle Pitts for instance, but "he's going to keep doing what he [did in college] because the way he plays translates."

Bowers College Stats at Georgia

Many tight ends may only serve as an accessory on their offense, but Bowers was the centerpiece in college—something an NFL team will hope to replicate soon enough.

In both the 2021 and 2022 college seasons, Bowers led the Bulldogs in receiving yards (882 and 942 yards, respectively) and accounted for 24 touchdowns from scrimmage for Georgia's back-to-back national championship-winning teams. The All-American then posted another 714 receiving yards and seven total touchdowns as a junior in 2023, despite being limited to 10 games because of a high-ankle sprain.

Bowers was the recipient of the Mackey Award, which goes to college football's top tight end, in each of his final two collegiate seasons. By the end of his Georgia career, he had posted 175 total catches for 2,538 yards (14.5 average) and scored 31 total touchdowns.

Recent NFL Draft Tight End History

Tight ends often aren't considered a premium position that warrants the use of a first-round pick—though, like Bowers, there are expectations from time to time. Over the last 10 NFL Drafts, dating back to the 2014 event, only nine tight ends have been selected in the first round, including one last year. Here's the company Bowers appears likely to join:

• Eric Ebron, 10th overall, Detroit Lions (2014)
• O.J. Howard, 19th overall, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2017)
• Evan Engram, 23rd overall, New York Giants (2017)
• David Njoku, 29th overall, Cleveland Browns (2017)
• Hayden Hurst, 25th overall, Baltimore Ravens (2018)
• T.J. Hockenson, eighth overall, Detroit Lions (2019)
• Noah Fant, 20th overall, Denver Broncos (2019)
• Kyle Pitts, fourth overall, Atlanta Falcons (2021)
• Dalton Kincaid, 25th overall, Buffalo Bills (2023)

The results of those picks have been mixed.

Just looking at the three selected in the top 10, Ebron was cut by the Lions after four seasons, flashed with the Indianapolis Colts during a 14-touchdown Pro Bowl campaign in 2018 but is now out of the league. Hockenson, the second-highest paid player at the position by total contract value, was dealt to the Minnesota Vikings midway through the 2022 season and posted career-highs in catches (95) and yards (960) before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Pitts, meanwhile, has been frustratingly underused, particularly over the last two seasons where he's posted only 1,023 yards—three fewer than his Pro Bowl rookie campaign alone.

When Is Georgia's Pro Day?

NFL teams will get another chance for up-close evaluation of Bowers in just a few weeks.

Georgia will hold its 2024 Pro Day on March 13, according to the Athens Banner-Herald, when coaches and executives from around the NFL will flock to the Peach State to scout draft-eligible Bulldogs prospects. This will serve as one more opportunity to impress league-wide before the draft, and could turn into a particularly notable date to watch if, for whatever reason, Bowers does not participate in certain drills or other aspects of the scouting combine.