HENDERSON, Nev. — The first day of Las Vegas Raiders rookie camp Friday was a chance for tight end Brock Bowers to show off his quick burst during passing drills — “one of the things I do best is getting vertical after catching the ball,” he said — but like the rest of the new players, he had to slow his roll every now and then.
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“It’s all new terminology, new formations, new play calls, new all that,” said Bowers, the Raiders’ first-round pick.
“We’re in elementary school,” coach Antonio Pierce said before practice.
Bowers was one of 32 draft picks, undrafted free agents and tryout guys to hit the field. Take a guess who was among the most excited people in the building.
“We’ve got some gritty, grimy, nasty, back-alley guys,” Pierce said. “More importantly, we got size. I think you look at the two O-linemen (Jackson Powers-Johnson, DJ Glaze), both gritty, tough, physical, length, power. You look at what we did on the back end, speed with the secondary and got a mike linebacker in Tommy (Eichenberg), who when you come from Ohio State and you talk to the players there, he was kind of the bell cow for them. Then we got this little running back from New Hampshire, (Dylan Laube), and he’s unique.”
Everybody was on equal footing once the first whistle blew Friday.
“We’ve got 32 Raiders here,” Pierce said. “I don’t care if he’s the 13th pick or the guy that’s trying out. They’ve got a Raider uniform on, we’re going to treat them accordingly. They earned the right to stay here, they earned the right to get more reps. I’m just excited to get them here, man. It’s just good to get a full roster.
“We can kind of like put this thing together, start to build this team and what we want it to look for, for the 2024 season.”
Rookie camp is underway pic.twitter.com/77fz3euVCN
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) May 10, 2024
Bowers has not yet met his quarterbacks (other than rookie Carter Bradley) or fellow tight end Michael Mayer, but he likes everything he has seen and heard thus far.
“It seems like they have a great culture, and a bunch of great rookies coming in so I am excited to get to work the next couple of days and the rest of summer,” Bowers said. “I can’t wait to meld in and do my thing.”
Pierce addressed (not really) the coin toss story that Terrion Arnold told about the Raiders’ picking Bowers over him, but either it’s untrue or a joke that got lost in translation.
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Pierce said picking the Georgia tight end “was a no-brainer.”
“We didn’t think he would be there at 13,” Pierce said. “I was just shocked to see it and it was like, ‘OK, you started counting (the picks away).
“He’s just different, I mean you’re talking about probably the most dynamic player in college football at that tight end position in a long time. It’s rare you get a guy like that, that can line up as a slot receiver, see him in the backfield, reverses, catch the ball, but I think more importantly his toughness. Watching him block in the SEC, watching him get after guys, I mean that’s what impressed me.”
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Pierce did make sure to call Mayer, the Raiders’ second-round pick and starting tight end last year, when the team selected Bowers.
“I said ‘Damn, this is going to be a great combination. Two young studs to grow up together within our organization that can help us win a lot of games,’” Pierce said.
The Raiders had said before the draft that they wanted to add a young quarterback, but they flew off the board too quickly, and the Raiders were unable to trade into the top three. So it’s Aidan O’Connell vs. Gardner Minshew II. Buckle up.
“I’m excited,” Pierce said in his first comments to the media since the draft. “I mean, what Aidan did the last four games and from what he’s done this offseason — changing his body, his work ethic, being here every day, blocking out the outside noise, not worried about anything, I’m excited.
“And then you bring Gardner in here. And listen, you talk about personality … Anthony Brown Jr.’s done a heck of a job as well. Aidan has already kind of taken the bull by the horns and he’s leading the way and Minshew’s right there doing it as well.”
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The Raiders will have to give their QB some time to throw, and many thought the recent signing of former New Orleans Saints Pro Bowler Andrus Peat meant he might compete with Thayer Munford Jr. for the starting right tackle job. That would be incorrect. Pierce said Peat will work at guard and back up left tackle Kolton Miller.
Pierce told Munford the starting job “is his for the taking.”
“He’s got a little chip on his shoulder, right?” Pierce said. “I’m sure he reads the outside news, but he has looked really good. The thing about Thayer that’s special is he can play left tackle; he can play right tackle. We even lined him up at tight end at times last year.
“It’s Year 3, and he understands this is a great opportunity for him to really just say, ‘I’m your guy.’”
(Photo: John Locher / Associated Press)
