Michael Mayers Calls Rookie Brock Bowers ‘Dangerous’ for NFL as Raiders TE Teases Threatening Duo in Making

The Las Vegas Raiders made a surprising move in the 2024 NFL Draft by selecting Georgia tight end Brock Bowers with the 13th overall pick. Many expected Bowers to be picked earlier since he was the top player at his position, but what surprised fans even more was that the Raiders chose another tight end just a year after drafting Michael Mayer in the second round.

Despite the unexpected addition, Michael Mayer welcomed Bowers to the team. Mayer expressed his excitement about playing alongside the talented rookie. 

Mayer anticipates a powerful partnership with Brock Bowers

Michael said Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal yesterday, “He’s fast. He’s got great hands. He can block. He can do it all. I feel like we can both do it all. I think we’re gonna be dangerous. I think we’re gonna have a great offense. That’s kind of all I’ve got to say about it. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

During his rookie season, Mayer performed more modestly compared to other tight ends drafted in 2023, such as Buffalo’s Dalton Kincaid and Detroit’s Sam LaPorta.While Kincaid and LaPorta had impressive reception numbers, Michel finished the season with 27 catches for 304 yards and two touchdowns over 14 games. Despite his smaller role in the passing game, Michael remains optimistic about the future.

He further stated, “100 percent, 100 percent. Look, our whole job is to win ball games. As an offense, we need to score touchdowns, and that’s what we’re going to do to the best of our ability. We can play a lot of 12 personnel, we can play a lot of 11, we’ve got a lot of weapons. I think you guys know that: We’ve got a lot of weapons.”

However, the team expects Brock to integrate well into their offense. The team aims to use these two in their offense similarly to how the Kansas City Chiefs use their tight ends.

How well does Brock fit in the Raiders?

This will be part of the new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s plan. Getsy authored the NFL’s No. 1 rushing offense in 2022 and the No. 2 rushing offense in 2023. Getsy has experience with tight ends from his time with the Chicago Bears and has shown Bowers videos of how tight ends like Cole Kmet performed in his system. 

Bowers’ stats from his time at Georgia show his versatility. His teammate, Decamerion Richardson, who faced Bowers in college, was impressed by Brock. He said, “His catch radius. With him being that big and moving him around like that, it’s a good dynamic for him.”

Therefore, having Brock and Mayer could remind fans of past successful TE duos in the NFL. For example, the New England Patriots had Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. While the Raiders don’t have a QB like Tom Brady, they hope that their current QBs, Aidan O’Connell or Gardner Minshew, can use Bowers and Mayer well.