Since the Las Vegas Raiders drafted Lynn Bowden Jr. with the No. 80 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, rumors have swirled as to how Coach Gruden and the Raiders' offensive braintrust will use the former Kentucky Wildcat.
Bowden, who won the Paul Hornung Award as the nation's most versatile college football player, famously took over at quarterback halfway through his senior season and set a slew of program records while also leading Kentucky in both rushing and receiving. His 160.7 all-purpose yards per game ranked fifth in the country. So there's no doubt that Bowden can do a little bit of everything.
But how will that translate onto an NFL field?
"Right now, we have him working out of the running backs room," Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Olson told reporters Tuesday. "He's meeting with Kirby Wilson, the running backs coach, but also he's had to learn a lot of things that we do at the quarterback position."
That's a welcome development to any fan who has seen NFL offenses succeed of late with dynamic, almost "position-less" players, something Olson acknowledged.
"You see the game changing from year to year, the use of the RPOs (run-pass options) and the use of the Taysom Hills, those type of players that played the RPO-style offense in college, they become valuable."
GM Mike Mayock was clear in the wake of the draft that Bowden would line up as a running back for the Raiders, first and foremost. But as Olson says, don't be surprised to see him also line up under center on occasion.
"We believe that he can transition and be a running back, as well as do some of those plays at the quarterback position that he did in college."
