On paper, the Las Vegas Raiders have every reason to stay calm about Brock Bowers. The numbers suggest stability. The grades offer reassurance. The explanations sound reasonable. And yet, when you zoom out, something about his 2025 season doesn’t quite sit right.
Before the year began, expectations around the Raiders’ offense were quietly optimistic. With Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly brought in to retool the system, there was hope for balance, creativity, and a smoother rushing attack.
Brock Bowers, fresh off a dominant rookie campaign, seemed positioned to become the focal point of it all.
That never fully materialized.
Much of the blame has been placed on quarterback play — and not without reason. Geno Smith, expected to replicate his late-career resurgence from Seattle, struggled badly in silver and black.
His inconsistency didn’t just stall drives; it reshaped how the entire offense functioned. Targets dried up. Timing fell apart. And for Bowers, opportunities became far less predictable.
Publicly, the narrative settled quickly: sophomore slump, worsened by bad quarterback play and a lingering injury.
Privately, the silence around how much Bowers was actually playing through told a different story.
According to Pro Football Focus analyst Nic Bodiford, Bowers’ production drop came while managing a PCL sprain suffered as early as Week 1 — an injury that eventually forced him onto injured reserve in Week 17.
Despite that, he still finished the season as the overall TE8 in half-PPR formats, following a TE2 finish as a rookie.
That context matters. But it doesn’t erase the unease.
When a generational tight end goes from centerpiece to sporadic weapon, even for explainable reasons, questions naturally follow. The Raiders leaned away from him for stretches — sometimes by necessity, sometimes by design.
Whether it was Smith’s reluctance to force throws or the coaching staff’s caution with Bowers’ knee, the result was the same: stretches where one of the league’s most dynamic mismatches felt oddly distant from the action.
And yet, flashes remained.
Against Jacksonville, Bowers delivered a reminder of who he is. Twelve catches. Thirteen targets. Three touchdowns. One performance that looked exactly like the player Raiders fans thought they were getting every week. It wasn’t just dominance — it was efficiency, precision, and trust between player and play design.
But those moments were isolated.
Bowers missed Weeks 5 through 7 in an attempt to let the injury heal. When he returned, he was productive, but not unleashed. His PFF offensive grade dipped from an elite 85.4 as a rookie to a still-strong but lesser 78.8.
He finished with 64 receptions, 680 yards, and seven touchdowns — respectable numbers, but not transformational ones.
Now, Las Vegas is betting on a reset.
The arrival of a new signal caller in Fernando Mendoza and offensive architect Klint Kubiak is being framed as the turning point. On paper, it makes sense. Better scheme. Cleaner reads. More intentional mismatches. Bowers lined up against linebackers and safeties who simply can’t stay with him.
Still, there’s a quiet tension beneath the optimism.
The Raiders don’t have an abundance of proven receiving weapons. That could force defenses to key in on Bowers even more aggressively. Creativity will be required — not just in play design, but in commitment. Because talent alone won’t guarantee usage.
The organization insists there’s no cause for concern. Analysts echo that confidence. But history has shown that elite players don’t just bounce back automatically — especially when their development years are interrupted by injury and instability.
So maybe the real question isn’t whether Brock Bowers is still elite.
It’s whether the Raiders are fully prepared to build an offense that treats him like it — consistently, deliberately, and without hesitation.
Because if 2025 was just a blip, 2026 should make that obvious very quickly.
And if it wasn’t, the warning signs were already there — just quieter than most people expected.
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