No tight end in football has been better than Brock Bowers this season. That is simply a fact. It’s a role Travis Kelce has held for most of his career. But not last year. And not this year either. This suggests we could be watching the torch be passed for the NFL’s best tight end.

Coincidentally, the two will be on the same field this weekend when the Chiefs visit Las Vegas. So Kelce will meet his heir to the throne and Bowers will meet one of his idols.

Bowers has studied Kelce throughout his career and has tried to incorporate parts of Kelce’s game into his own.

“Just some of the things he does, especially in off-schedule games, like scramble drills and stuff,” Bowers said of Kelce. “Just the way he works is pretty impressive.”

The rookie leads NFL tight ends in catches (47) and yards (477) this season. In fact, he is second in the NFL in both catches and receiving yards at every position, behind only Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin.

Those numbers from Bowers put him on pace for a rookie record of 114 catches for 1,158 yards this season. Numbers Kelce has surpassed four times in his career, most recently in 2022 at age 33. He just turned 35, so his career is clearly on a downward trend.

Even at the end of his career, Kelce is undoubtedly still the Chiefs’ best receiving weapon, and the Raiders are aware of that. By the same token, the Chiefs are fully aware that Bowers is the Raiders’ biggest threat, much like Kelce has been for the Chiefs for a good decade.

This is not a direct comparison in terms of play style and skills. Of course they are different players. But as we’ve seen so far, Bowers’ yards-after-catch abilities have put him alongside players like Kelce and George Kittle in recent years.

This is the fifth time in three years that defensive coordinator Patrick Graham has scheduled a game against Kelce. And he would wisely not go down the route of Kelce-Bowers comparisons.

“That Kelce is a Hall of Famer,” Graham said. “It’s unfair to do this to Brock. These guys have won championships, they’ve won multiple All Pros. I know that Brock works hard every day to get better and that he has made the most of his opportunities so far.”

It would be pretty cool if Kelce and Bowers had a chance to actually have a conversation at some point. It would be a noble move from a certified future Hall of Famer and certainly an honor for Bowers to receive that kind of respect and encouragement as he embarks on what is clearly a promising future in the NFL.