Not Travis Kelce, or George Kittle: this is who the NFL thinks is the best tight end in the league
The NFL has it’s fair share of superstar tight ends, but there is one that is a cut above the rest, and he just finished his first season in the NFL.
The NFL season is officially underway with the Los Angeles Chargers opening up training camp over the weekend. Now the countdown until kickoff begins, but the drought is over ladies and gentlemen. Football is back.
Bowers power
One of the things we as media people like to do in the offseason when there is no football, is talk about football. ESPN does an annual poll of executives, scouts and coaches in which they rank the best players at each position and the results might surprise you.
The best tight end in the game, according to those closest to it, isn’t Travis Kelce or George Kittle. The best tight end in the NFL is Brock Bowers who had a sensational rookie season with the Las Vegas Raiders. Bowers took the football world by storm in his rookie year, catching 112 passes for 1,194 yards and 5 TDs.
Kelce is considered to be one of the best to ever line up at the tight end position, but last year he caught 97 passes for 823 yards, which was his lowest receiving yardage of his career. The 35 year old also scored just three touchdowns which was a career low.
The rest of the pack
It was a terrible season for the 49ers last year in San Francisco but George Kittle was one of the bright spots of an offense that was riddled with injuries. Kittle caught 78 passes for 1,106 yards and scored 8 TDs. The 1,106 receiving yards were the second most of his career, following his 2018 season.
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Kittle was ranked as the second best tight end behind Bowers, while Detroits Sam LaPorta made the top three. LaPorta had 726 yards on 60 catches for the Lions in his second year in the league. Coming in fourth place, between LaPorta and Kelce in fifth, is Trey McBride of the Arizona Cardinals. The third year tight end caught 111 passes for 1,146 yards and scored two TDs. He was the leading receiver for Arizona and looks to be one of Kyler Murray’s favorite targets down in the desert.
What makes Bowers’ rookie campaign even more impressive, is the Raiders didn’t have a good offense or even a consistent starter at quarterback. Gardner Mishew played the most, but Aidan O’Connell was also in the mix as was Desmond Ridder. Despite the QB carousel spinning in Sin City, Bowers still put up monster numbers. This offseason, the Raiders brought in Geno Smith which should beef up Bowers’ numbers even more.