Raiders’ Front Office Under Fire: Brock Bowers’ Success Makes Recent Move Look Like a Mistake
Every now and then you get teams that make some very head-scratching moves, and the Las Vegas Raiders have certainly had their fair share. Now, the firing of Antonio Pierce was not a head-scratcher, in many ways, that is a move that should have been done, and it was done for the right reasons. Pierce, who finished with an almost identical record as Josh McDaniels, but only one more loss, was fired earlier this week.
On Thursday, the Raiders fired the general manager, Tom Telesco, because they wanted to restart and get a new head coach-general manager pairing.
The Telesco firing is a bit of a head-scratcher because he put together a pretty good class, pretty much hitting on the first three picks, and leaving some room for judgment still on his fourth-round pick, Decamerion Richardson, who had some really good moments.
But most importantly, he drafted Brock Bowers, the best rookie in the entire class, despite who will win the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. He’s the best tight end in the league, as a rookie, broke almost every single record you can think of that are rookie records, and now, he’s done something that puts him into some pretty elite company.
According to ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez, Bowers is the fourth rookie tight end to ever make a first-team All-Pro team selection, behind Jeremy Shockey, (2002), Keith Jackson (1988), and Charle Young (1973).
And when you really think of that, it puts into perspective just how much of a head-scratcher move that was.
But then again, you can argue that anyone, at pick No. 13, could have chosen Bowers. It wasn’t hard to go and find the guy who is pretty much considered the best college tight end of all time. Telesco did not make 12 other teams pass on Bowers.
Bowers has a very bright future ahead of him.
