I am by far Bowers biggest supporter and I've had him mocked to the Pats since September. I've pretty much said everything I can about my opinion on him as a player and a fit in the system, so for me all it comes down to is the medical. I strongly believe that this whole situation is a smoke screen by teams hoping that he falls to them and that his knee, while not 100%, is fine. The reason I believe this is because there has been so much mainstream media reporting on the seriousness of his injury, which just seems suspicious to me. Teams only release information that they want released. Everything that the media reports on is something that thier source wants released. If a team fails him medically and has no interest in him, how does it benefit them by releasing this information. I think if his injury was as serious as reported then we wouldn't have heard about it like the Sergio Kindle injury last year. The reason that never came out is because teams were not going to take a chance on him, so they kept it quiet and hoped someone else would take a chance on him high. If a team doesn't want a player due to a medical issue, it is in their best interest to keep it quiet in the hopes that someone else will take them early and someone they target will fall.
Now if a team is interested in a player that is projected to go before their pick, of course it will benefit them to spread misinformation in the hope that they will drop. We see the exact same thing with Mark Ingram, where I believe teams in the late 1st/early 2nd are hoping he will drop. When it comes to information at this time of year I don't believe anything I hear from the major national media becuase they are just puppets for teams at this stage of the draft process. Because of this I don't see Bowers falling to 17, as much as I would love him to. He won't go where he should (in the top 5), but I think he will go around 12 or 13. If I was BB sitting at 17 with Bowers on the board, I am making 2 phone calls. The first is to Bamburg South Carolina to welcome him to the Patriots organisation, and the second is to Willie McGinest (I'm not sure on the lockout rules regarding former players) and asking him to fly to Bamburg to help this kid once his knee is fully healed.
Wrong ht/wt. Only showed up his senior year. Disappears in games.
At 6'3" 276 I think his size is fine for the Pats. He may not be a traditional OLB, but I think he could be a monster in the Willie McGinest role.
I also don't buy the only showing up for one year argument either. He may have only had 1 year as an elite pass rusher, but he has been a good, all round football player for the past 3 years. He may not have put up the sack numbers until 2010, but he was doing all of the other things that I love him for. He sets the edge, he plays the run and disrupts the offence. 83 tackles, 19.5 TFL and 16 QB hurries, spliting time as a true freshman and sophmore doesn't seem too bad to me. If you wan't to look at his previous years, his 2009 season was very comparable to Aldon Smiths 2010 season. Both battled injuries throughout the year, and both put up similar numbers. Smith only played 10 games to Bowers 12, but Bowers also split time with many other talented Clemson D-Lineman. The difference for Bowers in 2010 was his ability to finish. While in his first 2 seasons he regularly got into the backfield, it wasn't until 2010 that he finished these plays. If that's what makes him a one year wonder then so be it.
The disapearing in games part is just completely false. He has a great motor and plays hard all game long. I think part of the reason people have this opinion, and I've seen it quite a bit on another board, is they don't understand what it is he was asked to do at Clemson. People see plays where is engaged with a blocker and not disengaging and going after the QB and they question his motor. This is because like in the Pats system, a lot of what Bowers was asked to do at Clemson is set the edge, while most teams ran away from him. He didn't attack more because that wasn't his assignment and he is a team player. If they just let him wind up and go after the QB every play like many college DE's, he would have easily put up 20+ sacks. But this wasn't what he was asked to do and this isn't what he is, he is a football player not a pass rusher. He showed me that he not only has the skill and technique to excel at setting the edge and playing the run, but he also has the discipline to stick to his assignments, which is huge in the Pats system. Some people see college DE's purely as pass rushers, and when they are not going after the QB they think they are taking plays off or they don't have the skills or consistency. For most DE's this is probably true, and that is why I think BB has stayed away from drafting an OLB early in the draft. Bowers is a guy that I know can rush the passer, I know can set the edge and I know has the versatility to make up for his pass coverage deficiencies. Unlike many other DE's in the draft, I have also seen Bowers play from a two point stance, and even rush from the ILB position. I think pigeonholing strictly a 4-3 DE or labelling him a one year wonder without really examining him is foolish.
