National Football League

Raiders TE Brock Bowers setting records; Broncos QB Bo Nix searching for answers

Published Sep. 18, 2024 8:33 a.m. ET

It's only two games, but Bo Nix has gotten off to a rough start in Denver.

Nix, the sixth quarterback drafted in April and taken with the 12th overall pick, had 45 touchdowns against three interceptions last year at Oregon. After two NFL games, he already has four interceptions, with no touchdown passes.

He's far from the only problem in Denver — he's the team's leading rusher, with 60 yards in two games — but it's a disappointing start after what seemed like a promising preseason. Take away screens and dump-offs, and Nix is 11-for-36 (31%) with four interceptions on passes thrown more than five yards downfield.

And if there's a plus to drafting a 24-year-old who was a five-year starter in college, you should expect a maturity that comes with answering questions after wins and losses. But asked by a reporter to "take us through the interception in the end zone" after Sunday's loss, Nix was glib.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "Um, dropped back, threw it to the other team."

You can't expect Nix to have all the answers yet, but how he handles himself is important. If he's protecting a teammate in his answer, there are still better ways to frame that. Plenty of great quarterbacks had rough starts to their careers. Peyton Manning had six interceptions in his first two games. Matthew Stafford had five.

Nix ranks 31st among NFL quarterbacks in passer rating, ahead of only newly benched Bryce Young in Carolina. He's only one spot below Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall pick who's also off to a rough start. But if the Broncos have eyes on challenging for a wild card, they'll need more from Nix — and quickly. On plays inside the Pittsburgh 30 on Sunday, he was 2-for-6 for 15 yards and that end-zone interception.

"We need to be better around him," coach Sean Payton said after Sunday's loss. "Listen, this guy has been through it. It would be different if he had not."

Bowers stepping up immediately

Raiders tight end Brock Bowers has been a surefire NFL prospect since his freshman year at Georgia, so it's no surprise that he's hit the ground running in his pro career. Las Vegas pulled off a big win against Baltimore on Sunday, rallying from 10 points down in the fourth quarter, and Bowers finished with 98 yards on nine catches, on nine targets no less.

After two games, he has 156 receiving yards, which is the most in NFL history for a rookie tight end in his team's first two games. Mike Ditka had held the record for 63 years, with 148 yards in 1961.

Bowers has the potential to be a high-volume, heavy-usage tight end in the passing game, and the early numbers validate that. He's on course to have 145 targets over a full season. Last year, the Jaguars' Evan Engram led the NFL with 143, and the most for any tight end in a season is 156, by Zach Ertz with the Eagles in 2018. As Bowers gets more comfortable in the offense as a strong No. 2 option to Davante Adams, he could quickly challenge those numbers as one of the league's most productive tight ends.

All of a sudden, he looks Marv-elous

We noted the quiet debut of Cardinals receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. last week, so we have to come back and recognize his huge Week 2 — 130 yards and two touchdowns in a statement win for Arizona against the Rams. It's only the third time in 40 years that a rookie has had 125-plus yards and two touchdowns in one of his first two games. The others were Hollywood Brown with the Ravens in 2019 (147/2) and the Cardinals' Anquan Boldin in 2003 (217/2).

Not everybody connects with a quarterback right away, and the other extreme so far is Colts receiver Adonai Mitchell, a second-rounder from Texas. In two games, he has two catches on nine targets. Since targets became a stat in 1992, only once has a player had as many targets and fewer catches — the Raiders' Darrius Heyward-Bey, who caught one pass on 10 targets in 2009. Heyward-Bey was a No. 7 overall pick and finished his rookie year with nine catches (on 40 targets) for 124 yards.

Expect Mitchell to catch on much better as he and second-year QB Anthony Richardson get used to each other.

Texans still finding rookie impact

Houston didn't have a first-round pick this year because it gave up a first- and third-rounder last year to move up for defensive end Will Anderson Jr., who had 1.5 sacks in Sunday's win against the Bears.

But even without a first-rounder, the Texans are already enjoying a nice rookie impact. Second-round corner Kamari Lassiter from Georgia and third-round safety Calen Bullock from USC both have interceptions in their first two weeks in the NFL. That's as many interceptions as the rest of the NFL's rookies have combined — just four total across the league so far, and none by high draft picks. Packers safety Evan Williams, a fourth-rounder from Oregon, has one, as does Giants linebacker Darius Muasau, a sixth-rounder from UCLA.

Introducing ...

Rookies have totaled only 3.5 sacks across the league after two weeks. Rams first-rounder Jared Verse, the 19th overall pick from Florida State, has one and leads all rookies with four tackles for loss. Only two others (Giants' Andru Phillips and Broncos' Jonah Elliss) have more than one TFL. Verse is only one TFL off the NFL lead, held by the Raiders' Maxx Crosby, the Lions' Aidan Hutchinson and the Saints' Alontae Taylor.

The Rams opened the season with 15 rookies on their 53-man roster, easily the most in the league, and that deep group is headlined by Verse and his FSU teammate, Braden Fiske, the team's second-round pick. Now with receiver Cooper Kupp sidelined by injury, another rookie who could step up is sixth-round receiver Jordan Whittington. His college numbers at Texas were underwhelming — five touchdowns in five seasons — but he already has two catches with the Rams and should take on a larger role while Kupp is out.

Braden Fiske (left) and Jared Verse were Florida State teammates and are now defensive starters as Rams rookies. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)

NFC East putting rookies to work

Which NFL teams are getting the most impact from rookies? In terms of total snaps on offense and defense in Week 2, the top three were all from the NFC East. The Giants, led by receiver Malik Nabers and safety Tyler Nubin, had 260 such snaps, just ahead of the Cowboys, who had 250, with more than half coming on the offensive line from tackle Tyler Guyton and center Cooper Beebe. In third was Washington, which had 215, led by quarterback Jayden Daniels and receiver Luke McCaffrey.

Fewest rookie snaps? The Falcons have yet to have a rookie play a single snap on offense or defense. Top pick Michael Penix Jr. is the backup quarterback, and most of Atlanta's draft picks have been inactive so far, with fifth-round linebacker JD Bertrand playing on special teams.

Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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