Panthers great Greg Olsen shares a reminder that he predicted Brock Bowers would be special

Carolina's best tight end in franchise history knows a special tight end prospect when he sees one.

Tim Weaver | 3 Hours Ago

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - NOVEMBER 03: Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, speaks to Greg Olsen, sports commentator, prior to the game against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on November 03, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. / (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)

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Carolina Panthers

The Kansas City Chiefs almost lost again yesterday, but they once again stumbled their way into a confounding one-posession win, this time over the Las Vegas Raiders in a special Black Friday game. We've heard more than enough about Patrick Mahomes and the voodoo magic his team is apparently using to keep escaping these close calls. The biggest takeaway from the game actually had nothing to do with Kansas City's sorcery.

That would be the incredible peformance of Raiders rookie tight end Brock Bowers, who almost single-handedly took down the reigning champs. Bowers put up a line of 10 catches, 140 receiving yards and one touchdown. That brings his season totals to 84 receptions, 884 yards and four scores.

Those are very strong numbers for any rookie pass-catcher, especially considering that Bowers has had a combination of Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell throwing at him all year. It's clear that Bowers is already one of the best tight ends in the league and it won't take him long to wrestle away that crown.

While Bowers was clearly the best tight end prospect in his draft class, it's almost-impossible to predict when a rookie is going to dominate in their first year in the NFL, no matter how good they looked coming in. One guy did see this coming, though.

Here's former Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen reminding folks that he predicted almost three years ago that Bowers would be special.

Greg Olsen shares old take on Brock Bowers

12-31-21 https://t.co/G0X6lIx6RB
— Greg Olsen (@gregolsen88) November 30, 2024

⬇️ https://t.co/ZXW57qMfjl
— Greg Olsen (@gregolsen88) November 30, 2024

These days Olsen is working as an analyst for Fox, and he's better at what he does than anybody else on TV - especially the guy who Fox hired to replace him.

As for the Panthers, they haven't had much going at this position ever since Greg Olsen's last year in Carolina, but rookie Ja'Tavion Sanders has flashed enough to inspire some hope that the drought may finallybe ending. Nevertheless, the Panthers should probably use one of their earlier 11 draft picks to add another promising prospect at this position.