Eli Stowers Prospect Profile

Background

Eli Stowers grew up in Denton, Texas, and attended Denton Guyer High School, where he won the Texas 6A high jump state title, led the team to a Class 6A state semifinal as a senior, and was ranked the No. 12 quarterback in the country, the top recruit in Texas, before signing with Texas A&M. He arrived in College Station and played in just five games across his first two seasons as a backup, and discovered he had been playing through an undiagnosed shoulder injury. He transferred to New Mexico State, his father's alma mater, where he approached offensive coordinator Tim Beck and volunteered to do anything to get on the field, and Beck put him at tight end. After one season in Las Cruces, he followed head coach Jerry Kill, Beck, and quarterback Diego Pavia to Vanderbilt, finished his degree at New Mexico State, and earned first-team All-SEC honors in his first full season at the position. He returned for 2025 rather than declaring, won the Mackey Award as the nation's best tight end and the William V. Campbell Trophy as the college football player who best combines academics and football, and declared for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Physical Attributes

Since TE has one of the highest correlations between physical attributes and success in the league, I figure I shall include the RAS for each player in these write-ups.

The explosiveness on display by Stowers is incredible. He is difficult for any non-CB to keep up with in coverage, and a threat to make moves with the ball in his hands. Has very good agility for a TE, able to move in and out of routes fluidly.

Data and Tape Analysis

If you are unfamiliar with my TE radar charts, you can find more information here

Eli Stowers is a confounding TE, and it lies within the fact that he is hard to project onto a blank NFL offense. He will fit in some and not in others, and that is because he has very obvious strengths and weaknesses.

First, the thing that will take him off the board for a lot of NFL teams as a TE, his blocking. It's bad. Like, it's terrible. The standards for receiving first TEs in the blocking department are usually low, but I think we found the new floor with Stowers. His feet are in all weird spots, making it easy for him to lose balance and limiting his strength output. You would think a former QB would be better at identifying the danger men to block too, and no. Any team wanting Stowers to play inline is signing up for a project. His athletic profile gives you hope, but it's an odyssey to get to average.

Though even with that athletic profile, Stowers struggles occasionally against man, especially against CBs. With CBs potentially being the primary position to cover him if he is not inline, that could present issues. His route running against them can be a touch slow, and he weirdly lets defenders play through his body to the ball more than someone his size ought to.

Now for what Stowers does well. He is a great receiving tight end. He does not have the full Travis Kelcie invisibility cloak zone coverage hack, but it feels eerily similar at times. I think that comes from him being an ex-QB, knowing exactly where he would have wanted his receivers to be.

With the ball in his hands, Stowers is tough to bring down. He is not juking anyone out of their socks, but always seems to find the right lane to maximize his yards after the catch.

Grade and Outlook

Eli Stowers is a mystery. I do not know where a coach will decide to deploy him in the league. Some may think he is a WR, and is he really the type of power slot you would want? Personally, I am trying to add another 10 to 15 lbs to his frame and letting him work through a redshirt type year where we try to force him to become a better blocker. If he can do that, he is going to have amazing surplus value, but I cannot get behind that, and its low probabilities right now.

Grade: 5.0 (Late 3rd / Early 4th)