Ready for His Encore
Brock Bowers was one of last season's best values—falling in fantasy drafts due to concerns about the Raiders' offense, only to deliver top-tier production right out of the gate. Now? The secret's out. Bowers is being drafted as the overall TE1, often in the first or second round, and expectations are sky-high for an encore.
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While Travis Kelce has ruled the tight end landscape for most of the past decade, it's been five seasons since any tight end finished as the TE1 in back-to-back years. So the question becomes: can Bowers break that trend?
With a new quarterback and a fresh offensive scheme in Las Vegas, fantasy managers are betting big on him being the outlier. Let's dig into whether that wager is justified.
An Amazing Rookie Year
Before we look ahead, let's take a moment to appreciate the greatness of Bowers' rookie season. He led all tight ends with 153 targets and caught 73% of those passes. Bowers ended his rookie campaign with 112 receptions, 1,194 yards, and five touchdowns. It was the best statistical rookie season for a tight end in NFL history. His 112 receptions were also the third-most by any tight end in any season. In 2024, he beat the second-best tight end by 13 fantasy points and the tenth-best by nearly 100.
These results shouldn't be surprising from someone many regard as the best tight end in college football history. The term "generational" gets thrown around too often, but Bowers lived up to the moniker. Still, drafters were wary of the Las Vegas offense in general, and Bowers fell in 2024 fantasy drafts, often coming off the board as the 10th tight end or worse. It's safe to say the managers who took him were thrilled with the return on investment.
The Challenge of a Repeat
Bowers' average draft position reflects just how high expectations are heading into Year 2. After the rookie season he delivered, why should anyone be worried? For starters, that kind of season-to-season dominance just hasn't existed at the position recently. No tight end has repeated as fantasy's top scorer since Kelce did it five years ago. They usually don't fall far, but they fall.
| Season | Top Tight End | Next Year Finish |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Travis Kelce | TE1 |
| 2020 | Travis Kelce | TE2 |
| 2021 | Mark Andrews | TE4 |
| 2022 | Travis Kelce | TE3 |
| 2023 | Sam LaPorta | TE8 |
| 2024 | Brock Bowers | ? |
While we could dissect the entire list, Sam LaPorta is the natural comparison. The parallels are striking, especially since both finished as the TE1 in their rookie seasons. LaPorta's first year wasn't as spectacular as Bowers', but it was impressive. Then, in Year 2, he took a step back.