After what the Raiders have been through with Maxx Crosby’s knee, the organization and fan base would be happy to never hear the term “meniscus” again.
But on Wednesday it was reported that Brock Bowers is expected to miss at least one or two games after undergoing a meniscus trim on Tuesday. ESPN’s Adam Schefter was the first to report Bowers might only miss a game or two, but on Thursday he seemed to walk back that sentiment a little, saying that’s the timeline Bowers and his family are anticipating.
Whatever the timeline is for Bowers’ return, the important detail is that the long-term health of his knee isn’t compromised.
Meniscus injuries can be a slippery slope and unfortunately for Bowers, who is still just 23 years old, it sounds like his knees were on the radar for NFL teams going back to his time at Georgia.
On Thursday, Sports Illustrated insider Albert Breer talked about Bowers’ knee and said the “wear and tear” on his knees goes back to before he was drafted by the Raiders.
“That’s a wear and tear injury. And having him in this, I don’t want to scare anybody here because it was a trim rather than a repair, which gets him back sooner rather than later. But there was some wear and tear stuff on him coming out of Georgia,” Breer said on the Rich Eisen Show.
“No alarm bells here, but… that’s why you don’t see with an injury like this, these sometimes just pop up rather than us actually getting to see something happening in a game or something happened at practice where practice was stopped. This is generally one of those things that is something that evolves over time. Ironically enough, it’s like the same sort of thing that Maxx Crosby has.”
“Again, I’m not starting that alarm because I’m saying these things that probably would make Raiders fans recoil to some degree, and so I’m not sounding that alarm yet. But this is the sort of wear and tear thing that you want to take care of. And so they take the more aggressive route in getting them back to the field, under the field, and having the trim rather than the repair. But it does at least, I think, get your attention just as far as the amount of mileage he has just three years into his career.”
Can the Raiders count on Michael Mayer until Bowers is back?
Until Bowers returns, former second-round pick Michael Mayer will be at the top of the Raiders’ depth chart at tight end, and it’s a role Raider Nation Radio host ‘JT the Brick’ has been saying Mayer can handle for years.
JT has been calling for more of Mayer in the offense even when Bowers was healthy, and JT said this week he thinks Mayer can do a lot of the things Bowers has been doing.
“Mike Mayer needs to step up in a big way. Michael Mayer can do almost everything that Brock Bowers can do. I’ve been saying that from before Brock Bowers got to the league. Michael Mayer can do everything that Bowers can do,” JT said on his Raider Nation Radio show on Wednesday.
“Now, Bowers is better. Bowers is better. But I’ve been telling everybody who would listen to put Mike Mayer out in aggressive situations and let him be a tight end, not a blocking special teams player. I’ve been saying that. Now we got a chance for Big Mike to step up. Whatever the play package is for Brock, run it to Mike.”
“Now, will he have the shifty-ness of Brock? Maybe, but I think he has the ability to do everything. Can he run an out route? 12 yards. Can he run an in route? Yeah, he can do everything. So that’s what I believe is going to be the issue here. I don’t predict injuries and I don’t talk about injuries until they tell me to talk about them. But I could tell you this much. The Raiders, as of now, I’m not saying as of today… [it] looks like they dodged some big news with [Ashton] Jeanty and Bowers. They look like they’ve dodged some really bad news.”
x: @raidersbeat