Tag: brock bowers

Analyst reveals why he didn’t vote for Jayden Daniels as Offensive Rookie of the Year

One person didn’t vote for Jayden Daniels. He explained why.

It was apparent early in the 2024 season that Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels was the frontrunner for the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

Daniels never let up. Instead, he improved throughout his rookie season, saving his best for the playoffs. He led the Commanders to road wins over the Buccaneers and top-seeded Lions. While Washington ultimately fell short against the Eagles in the NFC championship, the future is brighter than ever.

Daniels won the Pepsi Zero Sugar Rookie of the Week award a record-breaking 11 times this season. This week, he was named Pepsi Zero Sugar Rookie of the Year, which he followed up with the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

Daniels received 49 out of 50 votes, with the only other vote for Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers. It was surprising that Daniels wasn’t the unanimous winner. After every voter’s ballot was revealed, we learned that former PFF analyst Sam Monson didn’t vote for Daniels.

He explained why he voted for Bowers on X:

While you can strongly disagree with Monson, he made a valid point. But while Bowers had a historic rookie campaign, Daniels helped turn around a moribund franchise. When voting for these awards, you must consider everything.

On Friday, Monson joined “Grant and Danny” of 106.7 The Fan in Washington, D.C., and further explained his reasoning.

“You don’t love it. I have a pretty good idea of what my mentions are going to look like for the next couple of days,” Monson said via Lou DiPietro of Audacy.

“To me, they were extremely close, and I think either one of them wins in another season. I knew I’d be in a minority, but I was surprised I was the minority of one. Even the guys from the AP don’t know if there’s been a unanimous winner, but ultimately, 49 concurred on this one.”

Again, you can disagree with Monson, but attacking him on social media is not the answer. It never is. Monson should be commended for not hiding behind his vote.

“It’s a regular-season award, so the playoffs that enhanced his candidacy didn’t matter, because the deadline is the day after the end of the regular season,” Monson continued. “That would’ve pushed Daniels above Bowers, but you’re talking about two guys who had incredible rookie years, and Bowers had a better season than the benchmark for a rookie tight end. QB is the hardest position to play, but tight end is not an easy position to hit the ground running, either. He was breaking not just tight end records, but rookie receiving records.”

Bowers, Bo Nix, Brian Thomas Jr., and Malik Nabers all had strong cases for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award. It was an incredible rookie class. Ultimately, though, the voters got this one right.

Jayden Daniels named Offensive Rookie of the Year in blowout win

Jayden Daniels had the best rookie season of all time in 2024.

It didn’t take long for Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels to take the NFL world by storm. After having the greatest rookie season of all time, Daniels fittingly won Offensive Rookie of the Year by a huge margin. Daniels was named OROY at the NFL Honors on Thursday night.

Daniels received 49 of 50 first-place votes with the final first-place vote going to Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers. Bowers re-wrote the rookie record books for a tight end.

Jayden Daniels 49-1-0-0-0: 495

Brock Bowers 1-32-11-5-1: 214

Bo Nix 0-15-21-7-1: 153

Brian Thomas 0-2-8-15-18: 82

Malik Nabers 0-0-4-13-13: 51

Bucky Irving 0-0-1-8-12: 31

Drake Maye 0-0-3-0-0: 9

Joe Alt 0-0-2-0-2: 8

Ladd McConkey 0-0-0-2-1: 5

Caleb Williams 0-0-0-0-2: 2

The most surprising part of the OROY voting was Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams finishing dead last with only two points. Williams was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft and had a loaded offensive roster. Nevertheless, it was Daniels and his poise and confidence that helped him lead the Commanders to a 12-5 record and the playoffs.

Daniels finished the season with 4,459 yards of offense including 891 rushing yards. Daniels also had 31 total touchdowns.

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NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year voting: Jayden Daniels, Brock Bowers only to receive 1st place votes

Only two rookies received first place votes for the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year — Jayden Daniels and Brock Bowers.

Friday night the NFL Honors led out with the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. To the surprise of no one, Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels took home the award. But he wasn’t a unanimous selection. One other received a vote — Raiders TE Brock Bowers.

Of the 50 votes for AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, Daniels received 49 of them. The other first place vote went to Brock Bowers.

Here’s the full voting results:

Daniels had a tremendous season and was deserving of this award. He led the Commanders to the playoffs and even won a playoff game. But Bowers deserved recognition for his historic season.

The main reason Bowers didn’t stand a chance against Daniels was his position. Despite Bowers breaking a rookie tight end record that stood for six decades, despite setting the rookie receptions record…twice, and despite setting a new Raiders franchise receptions record (112), a tight end will always take a backseat to an elite quarterback.

Bowers did, lead the way in second place votes, getting 32 — 17 more than Broncos QB Bo Nix who also led his team to the playoffs. No one else was even in the conversation.

What condition the position is in: Assessing Raiders level of need at tight end

Taking a look at where the Raiders stand at tight end heading into the offseason.

With free agency a month away, it’s time to check in on the Raiders’ tight end position to give it a condition of either Strong, Stable, Unstable, Serious, or Critical.

Starter: Brock Bowers

Backups: Michael Mayer, Justin Shorter

Free agents: Harrison Bryant

Bowers broke all kinds of records as a rookie while leading all tight ends in receiving. This offense went through him. Mayer was away from the team a good portion of the season dealing with personal issues. He returned eventually and was a nice complementary piece, both as a blocker and a receiver.

Condition: Strong

Bowers is the best tight end in football. Mayer can be a decent number two, but that appears to be the best we can expect from him. Which may be enough. Though with Harrison Bryant headed for free agency, they will likely bring in someone to compete to replace him at the third tight end spot.

2 Raiders make PFWA All-Rookie team

The Raiders see two of their 2024 NFL Draft class named to the PFWA All-Rookie team.

Once Brock Bowers became the only rookie to be named to the Pro Football Writers of America’s All-NFL team, you figured it was a given he would be named to the All-Rookie team.

The question was if he would be the only one. And, as it turns out, he was not. Joining Bowers on the All-Rookie team was second round guard Jackson Powers-Johnson.

Here is the entire team:

Offense
QB – Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
RB – Bucky Irving, Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Tyrone Tracy Jr., New York Giants
WR – Malik Nabers, New York Giants; Brian Thomas Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars
TE – Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders
C – Zach Frazier, Pittsburgh Steelers
G – Jackson Powers-Johnson, Las Vegas Raiders; Dominick Puni, San Francisco 49ers
T – Joe Alt, Los Angeles Chargers; Roger Rosengarten, Baltimore Ravens
Defense
DL – Jonah Elliss, Denver Broncos; Braden Fiske, Los Angeles Rams; Laiatu Latu, Indianapolis Colts; T’Vondre Sweat, Tennessee Titans
LB – Edgerrin Cooper, Green Bay Packers; Chop Robinson, Miami Dolphins; Jared Verse, Los Angeles Rams
CB – Cooper DeJean, Philadelphia Eagles; Quinyon Mitchell, Philadelphia Eagles
S – Calen Bullock, Houston Texans; Evan Williams, Green Bay Packers
Special Teams
PK – Cam Little, Jacksonville Jaguars
P – Ryan Rehkow, Cincinnati Bengals
KR – Jordan Whittington, Los Angeles Rams
PR – Brandon Codrington, Buffalo Bills
ST – Sione Vaki, Detroit Lions

Bowers set several rookie and NFL records this season, including catches (112) and yards by a tight end (1194).

Powers-Johnson started 14 games this season at both guard and center for the Raiders.

The PFWA also named they Rookie of the Year, Offensive Rookie of the Year, and Defensive Rookie of the Year. Not surprisingly, Brock Bowers lost out to Commanders QB Jayden Daniels for Rookie of the Year and Offensive Rookie of the Year. Rams LB Jared Verse took home Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

Raiders TE Brock Bowers only rookie named to PFWA All-NFL team

Another honor for the Raiders superstar tight end.

The Pro Football Writers of America has released their All-NFL team. And, as you might expect, Raiders rookie phenom TE Brock Bowers made the team.

Here is the full All-NFL team:

Offense
QB – Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens*
RB – Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles; Derrick Henry, Baltimore Ravens
WR – Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals; Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings
TE – Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders (r)
C – Creed Humphrey, Kansas City Chiefs
G – Quinn Meinerz, Denver Broncos; Joe Thuney, Kansas City Chiefs*
T – Penei Sewell, Detroit Lions*; Tristan Wirfs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Defense
DE – Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns+; Trey Hendrickson, Cincinnati Bengals*
DT – Cameron Heyward, Pittsburgh Steelers; Chris Jones, Kansas City Chiefs#
OLB – Nik Bonitto, Denver Broncos; T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers*
MLB – Fred Warner, San Francisco 49ers#
CB – Derek Stingley Jr., Houston Texans; Patrick Surtain II, Denver Broncos
S – Kerby Joseph, Detroit Lions; Xavier McKinney, Green Bay Packers
Special Teams
PK – Chris Boswell, Pittsburgh Steelers
P – Jack Fox, Detroit Lions
KR – KaVontae Turpin, Dallas Cowboys
PR – Marvin Mims Jr., Denver Broncos
ST – Brendan Schooler, New England Patriots

Bowers is the only rookie on this year’s team. There wasn’t a rookie on last year’s team at all.

Bowers led all tight ends this season in catches (112) and yards (1194). He set a record for rookie catches, and a rookie tight end record for receiving yards.

PFWA put out both their All-NFL and All-AFC teams. Bowers was, of course, on both teams. There were no other Raiders who made either team.

Raiders 2024 season Ballers & Busters

Rounding up the best and worst aka the Ballers & Busters from the 2024 season.

We’re now a week since the final Ballers & Busters of the Raiders 2024 season. So, let’s round ’em up and put a bow on it with my season Ballers & Busters.

Ballers

Top Baller: TE Brock Bowers

No show here. The Raiders bread and butter on offense set all kinds of rookie, NFL, and franchise receiving records. And along the way was a Baller eight times and Top Baller twice.

DE Maxx Crosby

Even missing five games this season and being hobbled by his ankle injury ins several others, he was still named a Baller six times and a Top Baller twice.

DT Adam Butler

Butler stepped up big time in the absence of Christian Wilkins and proved himself quite valuable both against the pass and the run. Thus, he was named a Baller seven times and was never once a Buster.

WR Jakobi Meyers

He had his first ever 100-yard game, his second ever 100-yard game, and his first ever 1000-yard game this season. All while still doing his dirty work. Thus he was named a Baller six times and thrice a Top Baller. He had fans not missing Davante Adams all that much.

S Tre’von Moehrig

His best season was also his contract year. The Raiders played him up closer to the line of scrimmage a lot and sent him on a fair amount of blitzes. It turned out to suit him very well. He was named a Baller four times, three of those times he was Top Baller.

RB Ameer Abdullah

Injuries knocked out Zamir White and Alexander Mattison and it turned out to not be so bad for the Raiders. Abdullah carried the load and had a nose for the end zone. As a result, he was a Baller in five of his last six games of the. season. Strong finish for him as he makes the case for year 11,

Continue to the Busters…

Three Georgia Bulldogs selected to NFL All-Pro team

Three former Georgia football players, including rookie Brock Bowers, made the All-Pro team.

The Georgia Bulldogs have produced a wave of NFL draft talent recently. Three former Bulldogs in the NFL have been collected an honor voted on by their peers. Baltimore Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith, Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter and Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers made the 2024 NFLPA All-Pro team.

Bowers has had one of the best rookie seasons by a tight end ever. The Las Vegas Raiders selected him with the 13th pick in the 2024 NFL draft and he has been one of the best in the league.

Bowers finished with 1,194 yards, on 112 receptions, both stats break rookie TE records. He scored five touchdowns, and with a new quarterback, those numbers could be bigger next year.

Carter was selected in the 2023 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. He is one of six Bulldogs on the Eagles and he’s stood out in a big way. In 2024, he had 4 1/2 sacks, less than 2023’s total of 6, but he had 12 tackles for loss and 16 quarterback hits.

Smith is the oldest former UGA player selected to the NFLPA’s team. He was drafted in 2018 to the Chicago Bears, but due to a contract dispute, the Bears traded Smith in 2023 to the Baltimore Ravens for a second- and a fifth-round pick.

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With the Ravens, he’s been spectacular, making two all-pro teams. Smith  recently became the youngest player in NFL history with 1,000 tackles. In 2024, he had 154 tackles, four tackles for loss, and three quarterback hits.

Both Smith and Bowers were also voted to the NFL’s All-Pro first team. Carter was voted to the second team.

Another one of Puka Nacua’s impressive rookie records was just broken

Puka Nacua’s rookie record for receiving yards in a playoff game lasted just one year after Ladd McConkey broke it on Saturday

Puka Nacua put together one of the best rookie seasons ever by a wide receiver in 2023, but two of his most impressive records have already been broken. Not only did Brock Bowers (and Malik Nabers) surpass Nacua’s record for receptions by a rookie in one season with 112 catches, but Ladd McConkey eclipsed another one of Puka’s marks on Saturday.

With his 197 yards against the Texans on Saturday, McConkey broke Nacua’s record for the most receiving yards by a rookie in a playoff game. Nacua had 181 yards and a touchdown last year against the Lions.

It’s amazing how quickly both Bowers and McConkey overtook Nacua on those two lists, but it’s also a testament to how great the 2024 class of rookie pass-catchers has been.

Nacua still has perhaps the most important record of all, though. He holds the mark for the most receiving yards in a season by a rookie with 1,486 yards, breaking Bill Groman’s record of 1,473 yards, which was set way back in 1960. Brian Thomas Jr. came the closest to breaking Nacua’s record this year with 1,282 yards for the Jaguars.

Even with two of his records being broken, no single individual has ever matched the collective rookie season that Nacua had in 2023.

Raiders 2024 year-end awards: Top newcomer, best position group, most disappointing addition, more

The 2024 NFL season is behind us. So, let’s take a look back and hand out some awards. Some of which will be good ones. Some…not so much.

The 2024 NFL season is behind us. So, let’s take a look back and hand out some awards. Some of which will be good ones. Some…not so much.

This was an easy choice. Bowers is not just the Raiders top rookie, he is arguably the top rookie in the NFL. He is a long shot for Offensive Rookie of theYear due to the existence of Jayden Daniels, but there is a case to be made that he should win it due to the historic numbers he put up this seasons including rookie TE receiving yards record (1194), rookie receptions record (112), and Raiders franchise single-season receptions record.

He was added for nothing and without a lot of fanfare. The round seven rookie was waived by the Colts in their final roster cuts and claimed by the Raiders. He started seven games for the Raiders down the stretch and looks like he could be a solid foundational piece on this defensive line considering he has three years left on his rookie deal.

Butler set out this season to show he could be an every-down player and he did that. He stepped up with the loss of Christian Wilkins and was the Raiders’ best interior defender, finishing with five sacks and career-bests in tacckles (65), tackles for loss (8) and QB hits (10).

Jakorian Bennett was the midseason winner of this award, but he went down with injury and missed the latter half of the season. He too is probably worthy, but Butler held up all season long and is thus deserving of the award in the end.

Being that Chaisson had never had NFL success before this season, one could argue he’s not “coming back” from anything. But being that there aren’t any other candidates for this award, we’re going to stretch that a bit. He was a former first round pick, so at one time he was highly regarded. He just never lived up to it with the Jaguars. The former LSU star edge rusher had as many sacks this season (five) as he did his first four seasons combined.

Gardner Minshew is a close runner-up here. But after seeing the improved numbers across the board under Luke Getsy’s replacement Scott Turner, it was clear Getsy was a big part of the problem. Not a big surprise, honestly. He was coming off a terrible season with the Bears and wasn’t the Raiders first choice for the job. And somehow he was still a great disappointment.

They lost their top player Christian Wilkins five games into the season. And yet somehow still managed to step up and carry the load. The combo of Adam Butler, John Jenkins, and Jonah Laulu gave the Raiders some solid work both in run defense and pass rush. With some good late season flashes from Zach Carter as well. Should they bring back Butler, teaming him up with Wilkins and Laulu could give the Raiders a very formidable front.

You could also go with “Only good game” as the title of this award. That win in Baltimore looks more and more like a fluke the farther down the line we get from it. Their other wins were against two of the worst teams in the NFL (Jaguars and Browns), one who had Deshaun Watson starting and the other two with backup QBs (Jaguars and Saints).

Somewhat interesting their worst game came the week after their best one. Though there were many contenders for the worst game. But looking back, the one that stands out is the one that started the collapse.

It was their home opening loss to the Panthers in which they never led and Andy Dalton led offense to put up 33 points in the first 47 minutes. After the game, Antonio Pierce had his infamous reactionary press conference in which he called out unnamed players for making “business decisions.”

Shortly thereafter, Davante Adams came down with a sudden and mysterious ankle injury. Then demanded a trade and eventually was sent to the Jets. That’s also when Michael Mayer left the team and didn’t return for more than a month. The team was in shambles the rest of the way.

They would “win” the next game against the Browns, but anyone who watched it saw Deshaun Watson hand that game to the Raiders on a silver platter. Then they went on a ten-game losing streak.

Some of the lowlights from that streak include the Rams game where the Raiders turned the ball over four times, the first Chiefs game where the running backs averaged less than a yard per carry, the Steelers game where Pittsburgh rattled off 26 unanswered, the Broncos who had a 100-yard pick six and put up 34 unanswered, and the Bengals game when the Raiders gave up scores on the first five drives — four of which went for touchdowns — and allowed a season-high 41 points.

And that was just the first five games of their ten-game losing streak. They failed to reach even 20 points in any of the five games after the bye week while turning the ball over nine times.

He finished third in the league in gross punt average (50.8) and garnered a few All Pro votes.

Yes, the best rookie has also been their best offensive player and their lone First Team All Pro. Jakobi Meyers had his best season, but he wasn’t nearly on the level of Bowers who the Raiders offense ran through.

He won AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the team’s come-from-behind win in Baltimore in Week two. He battled ankle injury for several weeks, then injured the same ankle later in the season, sending Crosby to injured reserve. He was still named to the Pro Bowl and no other Raiders defender is approaching his talents.