2024 NFL draft: The Bears should avoid Brock Bowers, and it has nothing to do with his fit or skill set
Brock Bowers is a truly elite tight-end prospect. He has dominated his whole career at the University of Georgia, and will likely continue that success into the NFL. There is no tight end in the 2024 NFL draft that even comes close to Bowers. Brock Bowers is a destroyer of defenses, utilizing his size and route-running skills to gash defenses for big gains and touchdowns. He is also very strong in the run-blocking game. Bowers was able to eliminate some of the SEC’s best edge rushers.
Brock Bowers has elite stats, incredible physical traits, and a jaw-dropping highlight reel. Regardless of all those things, the Chicago Bears should not draft Bowers with one of their top 10 picks in the 2024 NFL draft.
This is not because of Bowers fit or his skill set. Bowers would be a good fit alongside Cole Kmet. Especially with the arrival of Shane Waldron to Halas Hall. Waldron’s offense relies significantly on 12 and 13 personnel sets, which requires 2 tight ends who can be both major receiving and blocking threats.
The Bears should not draft Bowers in the top 10 of the 2024 NFL draft for one simple reason, the money.
The money doesn’t make sense when drafting a rookie tight end in the top 10
Daniel Jeremiah of NFL network had a great explanation as to why a team should not draft Brock Bowers in the top 10 picks. Jeremiah spoke about this on the Move The Sticks Podcast. He discussed the tight end market and how drafting Bowers in the top 10 would not save as much money as drafting a receiver in that same spot would.
“When you talk to GM’s and people hear the term positional value, there is the financial component that I think people don’t fully grasp. If you pull up the list and look at the franchise tag numbers for the players at every position, if you were to take a tight end in the top 10, what you would pay him, even if you don’t think it’s a ton of money, but say its $7-8 million on an average per year. And the tight end number (franchise tag) is $12 million. Let’s just use 8 and 12 million as rough numbers here.
You are getting a savings of 4 million dollars off the premier top players at their position. I’m already paying top of the market price for my rookie tight end. I’m not really getting that rookie contract benefit. Versus what I could go out and get free agent tight ends for on the market.
Whereas if you look at the receiver number, that number stays the same no matter who you pick with the draft pick. So now we take that same $8 million, and now in the receiver market we get into the $20 million. SO now the surplus value I have their is enormous. I don’t have to go out on the market and pay top top dollar, I can just go put it back in my coffers.” – Daniel Jeremiah
The full audio clip of Daniel Jeremiah’s comments can be viewed in the embedded Tweet below:
This is the best argument against taking him with a top-10 pick:
Credit to: @MoveTheSticks pic.twitter.com/1i9uTlD75L
— Scott Barrett (@ScottBarrettDFB) February 21, 2024
Takeaways and how it could affect the Bears 2024 NFL draft strategy
Jeremiah makes a great point here, there is really no positive to taking Bowers or any tight end in the top 10. The Bears would be much better off selecting a receiver like Rome Odunze or Malik Nabers with the 9th pick in the 2024 NFL draft. If Bowers falls out of the top 10, that would be the ideal spot to pick him up. Otherwise there isn’t enough money being saved to select him. Although less physically gifted, there is better overall value in free agent tight ends who can be signed for less.
Brock Bowers would not be a terrible pick in the 2024 NFL draft at all. But picking him is not as tantalizing as an Odunze or Nabers. In which you get an elite talent for a fraction of the market value.
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