‘The ultimate Joker’: 49ers respect Raiders’ Brock Bowers-Kirk Cousins duo

San Francisco 49ers star George Kittle not only popularized the celebration of National Tight Ends Day but also helped found an annual offseason training summit that brings together pros from “the tight end community.”

In lauding the Las Vegas Raiders’ Brock Bowers, coming from one Pro Bowler tight end about another, Kittle likened Bowers to two dynamic 49ers teammates, both of whom have been All-Pros as wide receivers.

“You watch him, he runs routes fully extended like he’s Mike Evans,” Kittle said of Bowers.

“A couple years ago when Deebo (Samuel) would just come downhill and attack the ball and it doesn’t matter where you threw it, he would catch it. Kind of like that. You can just see Kirk Cousins sometimes, like he’ll be completely covered and Kirk just throws it up to him ’cause he’s like, ‘Hey, screw it, Brock’s down there somewhere.’ And when you have that relationship with your quarterback, you’re going to get a lot of opportunities.”

While Evans and Samuel are injured and out for Sunday’s Raiders-49ers showdown, Bowers is commanding attention coming off his two-touchdown performance in a win over the New York Jets. One of the scores came on a one-handed grab.

“Regardless of position, I think just one of the best in the league as a player,” 49ers linebacker Fred Warner told reporters of Bowers.

“Given what he’s shown on tape, he is a receiver. He’s a tight end and a receiver, right? It speaks more to his ability to run every single route in the route tree and use his hands to catch the ball away from his body and do everything that a high-end receiver does. I mean, it’s super impressive.”

Cousins has established a connection in which it works to throw it to Bowers in traffic. The 49ers can counter by putting pressure on Cousins. San Francisco brings back two more former All-Pros this week — defensive tackle DeForest Buckner via trade and edge rusher Nick Bosa coming off calf and knee injuries.

But they also know Cousins, who is second in the NFL in touchdown passes this season, has other options.

Said Warner of Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty: “I know he obviously got less carries this past game, but really talented in terms of his contact balance and running the football and also receiving the football as well.”

Here’s how 49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris sees Cousins:

“Kirk’s one of the all-time progression quarterbacks that the league has seen. He’s a computer during the week. He’s taking it all in, going through the process, going through his process.

“He’s playing with a genuine enthusiasm that I’m used to seeing from him.”

Morris would know. He was the Atlanta Falcons coach for the previous two seasons when Cousins was first the starter and then benched in favor of Michael Penix Jr. He said he wasn’t surprised by Cousins’ recent success, having seen the quarterback return to the Falcons’ starting role late last season and go on a four-game winning streak to close out their time together in Atlanta.

While the Raiders have one of the NFL’s top passing offenses, the 49ers under Morris have one of the top-rated defenses to face Cousins and Bowers.

“He’s a stud,” Morris said of Bowers. “He can run through the catch, he plays fast, he can do everything.

“The ultimate ‘Joker,’ as some of the guru offensive coordinators call those guys. Can move him anywhere, be in the backfield, run routes from the backfield. He can do it all, so he presents all kinds of master problems.”

Contact Diamond Leung at [email protected]. Follow @diamond83 on X.