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Jamie Bowers is one day away from becoming only the second Wabash College graduate to ever make the National Football League.
As of today, Bowers, a 1994 Warsaw Community High School graduate, still is a member of the NFL's New England Patriots. He hopes to survive the final roster cut to join former NFL tight end Pete Metzelaars as the only two players in Division III Wabash's school history to make the NFL.
Bowers signed with the Patriots as a free agent after the April 1999 NFL draft.
The Patriots trimmed their roster from 86 to 70 on Monday. Then they trimmed the roster from 70 to the league limit of 65 on Tuesday.
Bowers, who is 6-foot-3 and weighs 240 pounds, has survived both cuts.
Now the final cut comes Sunday. The Patriots must cut their roster to 53 players by 4 p.m. Sunday. This is the roster the Patriots will take into the Sept. 12 opener.
As of Aug. 24, Boston Globe New England Patriots beat writer Nick Cafardo wrote that Bowers was competing for a reserve tight end spot. Three tight ends - starter Ben Coates, reserve Rod Rutledge and Mike Bartrum, the team's long snapper - were locks to make the team. Cafardo said the battle for the final tight end spot was coming down to Henry Lusk and Bowers.
But as of Friday, Bowers' mother, Jean Reed, said the Patriots were looking at Bowers as a fullback, the position they envisioned for him when they signed him.
Cafardo's depth chart already has two players at fullback, Chris Floyd and Tony Carter. The team feels comfortable starting either one.
Cafardo wrote in August that Bowers catches anything thrown in his vincinity and that the team is pleased with his ability to "catch the ball consistently and in traffic."
At Wabash, Bowers caught 37 passes for 547 yards as a senior. He finished his college career with 94 receptions for 1,323 yards.
Reed said should her son not make the final roster, he would stay on as a practice team player if the team asked him to do so.
"He figures that would give him a year's experience," she said. "Then he could possibly play there next year or look elsewhere."
