The Las Vegas Raiders added the most versatile offensive player in the 2020 NFL draft, but how will he transition into the NFL within the Raiders’ offense?
The Raiders kicked off day two of the 2020 NFL draft, selecting Lynn Bowden Jr. — the ultimate do-it-all offensive playmaker.
To kick off the 2019 college season, Bowden entered his Junior year as Kentucky’s No.1 wide receiver, shortly after breaking out in his sophomore campaign the year prior. Things changed quickly and Bowden finished the season as the team’s primary quarterback over eight starts, totaling 403 passing yards, 1,468 rushing yards and 348 receiving yards.
Bowden ran the wildcat offense, caught passes, returned kicks and returned punts. The opposing team knew he was going to have the ball in his hands but defense’s still struggled to slow him down.
He went on to be named a consensus first-team All-American, first-team All-SEC and the Paul Hornung Award winner, given to the nation’s most versatile player.
Not much about his journey in becoming a pro is the prototypical path. Not having a defined position may have scared teams away from taking a chance on him in the draft but the Raiders clearly liked what they saw, spending a mid-round pick on him.
"“Ultimately, he’ll probably be what we call a joker — which I love in Jon’s offense — it’s somebody that’s able to do multiple jobs,” said Mayock after day two of the draft. “We’re going to train him to be a running back. If he’s able to handle that job, then we’ll be able to do some other things with him. We’ll move him around, let him catch the football and return punts. That’s his role.”"
The Raiders were in need of an additional running back heading into the draft since DeAndre Washington signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. Bowden provides the Raiders with a third rusher alongside Josh Jacobs and Jalen Richard.
Although he won’t be a typical north-south rusher who’ll carry the ball behind the Raiders’ stout offensive line, Bowden does allow the Raiders to add a new wrinkle in the playbook. He’s Gruden’s new gadget weapon, that will be used in an abundance of ways without being restrained to one specific role.
Gruden and Mayock continue to point towards the Chiefs offense, which contains numerous plays downfield and many motions during pre-snap. With Bowden’s multiskilled ability, the expectation is he’ll be used in a similar way, taking handoffs to run in and outside the tackles, be used on jet sweeps and split out wide to haul in passes.
There have been a handful of college prospects that have played a multitude of positions. Although, none of them have done so, to the level that Bowden did last season. He led the SEC and ranked fifth nationally in all-purpose yardage, with 160.7 yards per game (note: all-purpose yards does not include passing yards).
Bowden will have a tremendous amount of learning to do based on the variety of formations and positions he will be used in. With that said, he’s a unique player that Mayock indicated will be put into the joker role. That’s a lot to ask for in a rookie but Bowden was determined to do everything and more for Mark Stoops at Kentucky.
If Gruden can unlock the jarring potential that Bowden brought to the college game, he just may have found a transformative weapon that could take the NFL by storm with his swiss army knife style of play.