College football’s most versatile player simply trying to get on the field in the NFL
How does a consensus first-team All-American — a player so dynamic and elusive he gets named college football’s most versatile player — and the 80th pick in April’s draft get traded for a peanuts before he even appears in a game?
A smart assumption is it’s either an issue with ability, or it’s an issue with character.
But Lynn Bowden, who lasted all of four months in Las Vegas before the Raiders had seen enough, is out to prove both assumptions about him are wrong.
“People are going to talk the way they talk,” Bowden said Wednesday in his first media availability since the Dolphins acquired him for third-day draft compensation in early September.
“The past is the past. It’s not something I’m thinking about. It’s not something I’m worried about. I’m in a better place, just with myself. I’m happy where I’m at. I’m getting a shot to do what I love to do and I’m just going to keep going forward.”
Bowden was hyped as the NFL’s next big-play gadget player coming out of Kentucky. He could run. He could catch. And he could throw.
The receiver-turned quarterback totaled more than 2,500 combined rushing and receiving yards his final two years, with 22 all-purpose touchdowns in his three-year career.
And he might have gone higher than he did had he been able to run at the Scouting Combine. But he was hurt and couldn’t, and the pandemic eliminated his pro day.
Still, the Raiders liked what they saw and used a premium pick to take him.
But Bowden wasn’t a good fit on the field, and reportedly off, in the short time he spent in Raiders headquarters. The league’s COVID-19 restrictions eliminated the normal rookie acclimation period.
And when he showed up to training camp, he was a square peg in a round hole.
Wide receiver seemed to be a logical spot for Bowden in the NFL, but Jon Gruden played him at running back. He struggled.
And then there was that peculiar report by The Athletic after the Raiders-Dolphins trade on cutdown day.
Citing unnamed sources, The Athletic’s Raiders reporter Vic Tafur wrote that some Raiders officials believed that Bowden “was more concerned with picking up new cars than the playbook ... [and] there were also some growing concerns that he was getting more and more distracted in Las Vegas.”
Untrue, Bowden suggested at the time — and he hasn’t changed his tune yet.
“The NFL is a business,” he said Wednesday. “It’s a business first. Feelings come last. I learned that quick, fast, in a hurry, even before the trade. There’s nothing I can really do about it. I’m here. I’m in Miami. We’re making the best of it. We’re having fun. I feel like as a team, we’re good right now.”
Bowden is currently the team’s No. 4 or 5 (of 6) wide receiver, and he’s barely seen the field in two games he’s been active.
He hasn’t been used yet on special teams and has logged just eight offensive snaps. It’s strange for teams to activate non-backup quarterbacks on game days and use them that little.
The most interesting thing he’s done on the field is serve as the team’s Wildcat quarterback in Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks, rushing for five yards on his lone carry.
And while he hasn’t yet popped, the Dolphins evidently think he can do more for them right now than rookie wide receiver Malcolm Perry, another converted quarterback who has yet to see the field.
“Just having the ball in my hands fits,” Bowden said. “Wherever that is that coach needs me. You can look at the statistics of how long a running back lasts and how long a receiver lasts. You could look at that, but I just feel like I’m built to last wherever I need to play at, wherever coach needs to play me at. When my time comes, I’m going to be ready.”
