'Unsung hero' is the Packers UDFA with the biggest chance of making the roster

Bowden was raised in San Diego, California. Peter was a baseball kid for the most part, but started playing football in high school. His cousin was a punter and asked him to long snap some balls, so he could have some film.

In high school, he also played defense, but was a five-star recruit as a long snapper with 227 successful snaps during a four-year varsity career. When he arrived in Madison, Bowden didn't play for two years, until getting the starting job in 2021. In 2023, he was a finalist to the Patrick Mannelly Award, which recognized the best long snapper in college football.

"Peter has been phenomenal since the first day our new staff walked in the door in January," said Matt Mitchell, the Badgers special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach. "The production speaks for itself in regards to the snaps, the times, the location, the accuracy. Getting the laces in the right spot. He's also had a really big impact overall on our special teams, because of his confidence and his leadership."

During his last college season, he helped freshman kicker Nathanial Vakos to receive honorable mention for All-Big Ten honors. And Vakos is a huge fan of his former teammate.

"I'll say it every day, he's the best snapper out there in the country. Point blank period," the kicker mentioned. "He's really an unsung hero on the team. Long snappers are a position that doesn't get a lot of glory, but it's a position that comes up huge in the end of games and on fourth downs. It changes games. Peter is a guy who's always grinding, he has that work ethic. He never settles for mediocrity."

Playing style

According to NFL Network's draft analyst Lance Zierlein, Bowden snaps with consistent placement on field goals and extra points, even though he has to reach better velocity to play in the NFL.

Matt Mitchell said he changed punt schemes during the season in 2023 to take advantage of Bowden's ability.

"We made some changes to the punt scheme even throughout the course of the season and put more pressure on him, because of what his skill set allowed us to do," the special teams coach said. "When you take a look at our overall, not giving up a lot of punt return yardage and our net punt really being really successful, it still comes back not only to the snap and the kick, but also comes down to him being a cog in our protection, especially later in the year. That allowed us to get some great coverage down the field."

The Beast, Dane Brugler's huge draft guide for The Athletic, mentions that Bowden is the best long snapper in the class. He's 6'2, 239lbs.

Position issues

Since Super Bowl champion long snapper Brett Goode was let go by the Packers after the 2017 season, the team has struggled to find an above average long snapper, especially with athleticism to be impactful beyond the snap. Brian Gutekunst even drafted Hunter Bradley in the seventh round in 2018, but the decision didn't pan out. In 2021, a missed block by Steven Wirtel was the main reason for the punt block that cost the Packers the divisional round game against the San Francisco 49ers.

At the moment, the Packers' starting long snapper is Matthew Orzech, who's been in the NFL since 2019 and won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021. However, his performance last year didn't secure him a roster spot, and Bowden comes to challenge him with a real shot.