Las Vegas Raiders general manager Tom Telesco passes first round test

New Las Vegas Raiders general manager Tom Telesco wrapped up the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft with the Raiders last night, and he passed the test. What test, you may ask? He didn’t reach. He stuck with pick 13 overall and ended up selecting the best player available, which was Georgia tight end Brock Bowers. 

Brock Bowers is by far the best tight end in this draft class, and maybe even the best tight end prospect of all time. He’s very versatile, can also play wide receiver if needed, and will be a perfect pair with Raiders second-year tight end Michael Mayer.

He’s a solid blocker, but an even more impressive route runner. Very quick and elusive, elite hands and hard to tackle. He is a very similar player to Chiefs’ star tight end Travis Kelce. Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce wants physical players with attitude, in other words, “Dawgs”. Well, he’s got one in Brock Bowers. 

Raiders got an award-winning tight end

Bowers won the John Mackey Award, which was given to the best tight end in college football in back to back years, both 2022 and 2023. He's also the first two-time winner of that award. In his three year college career, he had 175 catches, for 2,538 receiving yards and 26 touchdowns. He had 13 touchdowns in 2021 alone.

He also just turned only 21. 

Nobody, and I mean nobody expected this pick. But, again, they didn’t reach. In literally any other year, Brock Bowers is a top-five to ten pick easily and would have been long gone by pick 13. With all of the top six quarterback prospects already gone, Tom Telesco and the Raiders smartly took the best player available.

They didn’t reach, and nobody will be able to say they picked a bad player. In fact, again, they were lucky and smart to snag Bowers at pick 13. Now, we await for rounds two and three later today. Who will the Raiders pick next? We’ll see soon enough.