Lynn Bowden addresses trade rumors: “Don’t believe everything you read”
It’s been an eventful weekend for Lynn Bowden, who has officially touched down in Miami, Florida. News broke Saturday afternoon the former Wildcat has been traded from the Las Vegas Raiders to the Miami Dolphins.
Bowden, a third-round pick in the NFL Draft, was traded along with a 2021 sixth-round pick in exchange for a 2021 fourth-round pick. The Raiders already paid Bowden his $985,000 signing bonus, meaning they’ll lose that cap space, as well. It’s a perplexing trade to say the least.
I’m homeeeee ???
— Lynn Bowden Jr (@LynnBowden_1) September 6, 2020
After the trade was made public, The Athletic’s Vic Tafur wrote a story headlined “Even at a loss, Raiders happy to find a trade partner for Lynn Bowden Jr.,” writing that Bowden’s early growing pains at training camp “can’t be the whole story.”
“Some at the team facility thought the rookie was more concerned with picking up new cars than the playbook, and on the field Bowden looked measured and not explosive. On top of a lack of breakaway speed, he was always getting blasted when it was his turn to pass block.
There were also some growing concerns that he was getting more and more distracted in Las Vegas and that he might be an influence on other rookies like Henry Ruggs III and Damon Arnette.
Suddenly, that slide rule that teams use to measure talent versus potential risks tilted toward the conclusion that keeping Bowden was a losing proposition.”
After The Athletic story broke, Raiders’ general manager Mike Mayock called the trade a “football decision only” on conference call with reporters, adding “character off the field, the kid did absolutely nothing wrong.”
Mike Mayock on Lynn Bowden trade: "Number one, it was a football decision only. Character off the field, the kid did nothing wrong. We did all the homework on him. He worked his tail off and competed every day." #Raiders
— Adam Hill (@AdamHillLVRJ) September 6, 2020
“Quite frankly I think the position change is a difficult one in any year. But it’s exaggerated in a COVID year with no offseason,” Mayock added. “So, you’re taking a kid that was a slot receiver in ’18, a quarterback in ’19 and asking him to play running back in ’20. Really the only other thing I’m going to say about it is it was my call. He was not able to play today at the level expected and because of that we felt like we had to make a move. And again, it’s 100 percent on me.”
This was a drastic change in position from just days earlier, when Mayock explicitly said “we just have to continue to give him the time” to improve. Mayock referenced the organization’s decision to move Bowden to running back as the main reasoning for why the team has to be patient with their rookie.
“We’re asking an awful lot of this young man. Any time you ask a college player to play a different position, it’s called a projection and you’ve got to give them some time. That’s the way I feel about Lynn,” Mayock recently said on the radio show Chalk Talk with JT the Brick. “Lynn has come in and done everything we’ve asked. We just have to continue to give him the time to learn to convert to a running back primarily. And he’s never been that before.”
By Sunday morning, Bowden was forced to address the situation on Twitter, telling his followers “don’t believe everything you read,” likely in response to The Athletic’s story.
Don’t believe everything you read lol I stepped outside of my home twice if that ? on to a new journey let’s rock ??
— Lynn Bowden Jr (@LynnBowden_1) September 6, 2020
One of his former coaches, Vince Marrow, also came to Bowden’s defense online. While he was at it, Marrow added an extra jab at the Raiders for passing on Josh Allen in the 2019 NFL Draft. Instead of selecting the National Defensive Player of the Year, the Raiders used their No. 4 pick on a defensive end out of Clemson, Clelin Ferrell.
Allen, who wound up with the Jacksonville Jaguars as the No. 7 pick, followed up with his own words of encouragement to his fellow former Wildcat.
@LynnBowden_1 is one of the best football players I’ve been around he’s not a running back he’s a Wr who can make plays. He’s also a very intelligent football player so just remember this is the same team who passed on @JoshAllen41_ enough said. Go Big Blue.
— CoachMarrowUK (@vincemarrow) September 6, 2020
Can’t wait to see you ball brotha https://t.co/8WZzSZ3KGx
— 41 (@JoshAllen41_) September 6, 2020
First, the Raiders’ brass publicly said they’d give Bowden time to develop into (another) entirely new position. Less than a week later, he was traded. Then, someone from within the organization leaked reports to The Athletic, hinting toward off-the-field issues and distractions as the reasoning for the trade. Meanwhile, Bowden tweets he only “stepped outside of my house twice if that.” Hours later, the team’s GM calls the move a “football decision only.” There’s something fishy going on here, and I’m glad Bowden isn’t part of it any longer.
Plus, are we really going to believe Bowden simply couldn’t handle learning a new position? Kentucky fans know as well as anyone how quickly Bowden is able to adapt.
17 Comments for Lynn Bowden addresses trade rumors: “Don’t believe everything you read”
It’s easy to explain this – the raiders used to be a good franchise almost 30 years ago.
This^^^^^^^. Enough said.
The Raiders are a train wreck,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yHsuFaDBYE
Of course, that was for Hoover and Roosevelt; we could reenact it for this year’s combatants, ha ha.
Gruden is a mess. He never knows what he wants. Won in Tampa Bay with Dungy’s players. Then took a crap. Should’ve stayed commentating.
Gruden obviously didn’t do much homework; he mispronounced ‘Bowden’ when he called him right before the pick. Like “bow” of a ship instead of a “bow” tie.
Lynn Bowden is a playmaker. He is Not gifted with blazing speed or good size for a running back. I will follow him and hope he becomes a star in the NFL. We all know he comes from a troublesome and tough environment. He has seen bad situations we’ll never see. He had to survive, and he did so by becoming street smart and tough. With all this said, come on – there were some behavioral issues obviously. A 20 year old, with a few hundred thousand dollars in his pocket, went “out” in Vegas twice over the last several months? Flashback to the pregame Belk Bowl punch, the scene arguing with coaches, assault rifles found on a raid at his Grandmother’s house…. and now this sudden release? With all that, I am a Bowden fan. Yeah, this is fishy.
Go Cats!
Almost every white household in SEC country contains an assault rifle. So tired of hearing that mentioned in this context.
“Almost every” is probably a bit strong, but your point is well taken…except for calling it an assault rifle. Everything that is used as a weapon is an assault weapon. My 5 and 6 shot revolvers, with the speed loaders I carry in my pocket, are assault weapons if I were to assault someone. The only reason that term is used so much by the left is to convince those who know nothing about guns that semi-auto rifles are machine guns when they are not.
Sounds like Josh Jacobs was crying and didn’t want any competition.
Remember, the Raiders are only one season removed from Antonio Brown and what happened with him. One can only think that they had AB on their minds when they saw this young man go spend some money on a few luxury items. There is nothing wrong with what LB did, they just stereotyped him based on what happened with AB. I could be wrong, but it does seem that way from the outside looking in.
I hope he kills his social media accounts. Do what he does best: just play ball LB1
The Raiders will always be a cluster f**k!
REally BBN stop making us look stupid. Questioning an NFL front office player trade. A Billion dollar franchise is all of a sudden stupid because they traded away a pick they should have never taken in the first place. Bottom line they bought a something and when they un wrapped it wasn’t what they expected . people Bowden is just not that type of player. It was just plain luck what he did . Hes cannot catch , not fast he is lucky he was able to run behind those big walls and get over hyped as what has happened . The nfl even bought into the hype. And for those thinking he is going into Miami and be a receiver you obvioulsy havent seen the real pass catchers on that squad. He will be nothing more than special teams and practice squad. Something else if you think he was distracted in Vegas what the hell you think is going to happen in MIAMI this kid is train heading toward a wall.
It all come down to being able to block and pick up blitzes. LB is a great talent, but learning a new position (all of it) is very tough. I can believe he struggled blocking, he has never had to do that from the RB position. Lots of elite RB’s in the NFL struggle with it. it is why the are relegated to situational downs. Guys who struggle are never in on passing plays, which pretty much makes them a 2 down back. Maybe the raiders feared he was not big / strong enough to ever catch on and feared it would end up costing them sacks, or worse getting the QB injured. Not saying the raiders were right, but maybe they thought that a 3rd round pick was not worth the risk. I do believe it had nothing to do with off field issues, they just felt he would never be a complete Rb after watching him in camp and decided to go another direction. It is a business, the Raiders felt like LB was disposable and cut bait.
Lynn : keys are half price in Miami let’s Rock!
Tampa Bay paid Gruden several million dollars a year for 3 seasons per his contract after they fired him just to get rid of him