Three observations: 1. At Georgia, Bowers played more than 50% of his snaps in the slot and split wide. The Raiders are using him the same way. He's a big bodied receiver who makes big plays ~ TE in name only. Many of you guys commenting clearly have never seen him play a single down. 2. If JD had hit on ONE of Becton, Mitchell, or Warren, the Fashanu pick would never have happened and we don't know how he'll work out long term. JDs track record drafting that position is atrocious. 3. Even more troubling, the front office had Odunze rated higher than both. Jesus Christ.
That's the problem though - IF he hit on one of the OL. He didn't. Tell me that you are not relieved right now knowing Moses will be out a month and we actually have a talented tackle in Olu to protect Rodgers? And this is just Moses. You know Smith will get hurt too sooner or later. I still think the probability of Rodgers getting hurt given his age and injury last year is A LOT higher with a poor OT in front of him. You saw how good he made our existing TE look. As long as he is upright, we have a shot. As much as Brock would help, JD's previous fuck ups put him in position with almost no choice but to draft an OT high.
Not only JD's f-ups on the oline, but he: 1. Signed Uzomah to a 3-year deal in March 2022 2. Signed Conklin to a 3-year deal March 2022 3. Drafts Ruckert (analgous to a 4-year deal) in 2022 4. Drafts Kuntz in 2023 During all this TE activity, he apparently never considered that a once-in-a-blue-moon TE was going to be coming out of college in 2024. How could he rationally even consider drafting Bowers after all the resources he dumped into the TE position over the last 2 years before he came out. I don't know for certain but the great GM's most likely have a 2-3 year time horizon on who's coming out of college, who's going to be a free agent etc. JD's TE resource allocation performance showed he had no value attached to Bowers coming out in 2024. He then is quoted as saying he never considered taking Bowers during the draft. The moral of the story is that we got a GM who played the system nicely and went up the company ladder in such a way as to become one of 32 GM's in the NFL. But he didn't get there because he has foresight. End of rant.
Where are you going with this? Yes he missed on The Tackle, every GM has misses across the board. Conklin is better than solid and Rucker is coming along. Both are great blockers as well.. All this discussion because three years down the road a guy like Bowers would come along. A guy that by the way is a true WR, not a TE. He can’t block for shit. He is not the TE for this system. He could be a war I’ll give you that. The Raiders use him on passing situations only. Everyone and his brother knows when he is in they will not run the ball. Time to move on. JD had a few misses but the team is pretty solid right now, no different that any other GM. We bitched about McD, now we bitch about Ole. Look at the talent across the board on this D line that was total shit when he came aboard. From high draft picks to un drafted free agents. We will live and die by the strength and depth of our OL, and Ole was absolutely the right pick.
What is this obsession with Bowers though? He is a good player but some people are already anointing him as first ballot HoF.
You can do way better trying to trash the guy than what you've laid out here. I also don't get the Conklin hate, he's not a bad TE
Same. I like Conklin. Ruckert, Uzomah, and Yeboah are the ones who have given us a bad TE room last couple years.
Because a lot of people on this board were pounding the table for Bowers, we passed him up, and he's been the best TE in the NFL so far during his rookie year.
I would not say that at all certainly not claim he is the best TE after 3 weeks. I watched him play today and he is barely used as a TE. He is played mostly as a slot receiver.
Being great at scoring *FANTASY FOOTBALL* points and being the best TE in the NFL TE isn't exactly the same thing. Nobody cares he's not a good blocker in fantasy. Again, you also can't just copy and paste his target fueled production over to the Jets offense (who can actually run the football unlike Vegas) and expect the same exact results. Surprised you went there tonight though to be honest after Bowers had a mostly irrelevant day against a soft Carolina D without the force fed target share being there, and while JD's higher regarded boy went off in Chicago for a bigger yards game then GW has had since mid 2022
He’s not the best TE…I’d say Kelce is still better. Kittle too probably. But regardless…he’s been very good, despite not doing much at all today. Even still, I STILL say Olu was the better pick. We already need him in week 3. Week 3! For us, OT was the pick. All day. I honestly don’t get this discussion at all…it was the right pick on draft day, and it’s already proven to be the needed pick 3 weeks in. All this bullshit argument about needing a game breaker at TE instead of a backup who won’t play because it’s a win now year has already been debunked. He WILL have to play. We all knew he would…the odds were just too strong there with 2 older tackles.
Ya--I get this is kind of an obtuse argument--I'm not making a claim on the goodness or badness of any player--rather, I'm putting forth the idea that Bowers was never going to be considered on draft day either due to JD's behavior towards the TE position over the past 2 years, or that he didn't think he was the best player on the board at 11. I'm going to drop this subject now--lol--
First off he is not by far the best TE, in fact he is not even a TE and not used as such. He can’t block, he is not on the field on running plays. He might become a damned good WR but certainly not the best TE. In the way we use TE he was probably not a major consideration at all.
On other news did you guys see that monster catch by Odunze yesterday. If the QB connection clicks he is going to be a major force. Don’t know why many disliked him a a potential choice on a trade down.
Everybody (including me) were terribly dissapointed with Joe Douglas never fully adressing the offensive line for all the time he has been in charge. I do believe OT stats can be skewed by the QB ability to read defense adjust and get the ball quickly but so far I have to give some props to JD for the first time since he joined having a decent Oline and a running game going. It's still too early to asses if Olu Fashunu is the guy we should have picked or not but having the feeling we finally have a good oline and decent cover is WAY more significant than having a TE lining up as a slot receiver right now. I feel we could also target another receiver before the trade deadline to give more weapons to Arod for this year. Moving forward to next season Olu Fashunu impact will have be even more important as a starter than any TE in the NFL.
If you want to rewrite history, don't include me (your use of everbody) you wrote Joe Douglas never fully adressing the offensive line for all the time he has been in charge. This is as false as can get. He has brought in to the organization a tremendous number of Oline people. From his very first free agent guy to Olu. 3 first round draft picks, innumerable free agent, lower round draft picks, and so on. The mistake JD made is not in the number, its in the quality. He is fair game for that, but not for lack of trying. He has done everything BUT IGNORE the oline.
Oh believe me, he tried but he failed. That's what I meant. The offensive line has always been crap since he joined.
I’m going to throw it out here, recognizing is not related to the topic, but consistent with adding weapons to the O. Didn’t want to open a new thread. I’m here in Las Vegas now more than LA and it seems like the whole Devante Adam’s saga is coming to a boil. Coach Pierce threw a granade yesterday about players not putting out there and making financial decisions instead. Adam’s was disgusted out on the field. Once again the Jets are at the top of the interest rumors. Could we even be able to afford him and cut a deal to bring him in. It would be a hell of a duo if we can swing it. I know we lost a third on account of the Reddick cluster mess..
