After knee surgery on Tuesday, the Raiders will be without Brock Bowers for at least a game or two, and medical experts have been weighing in on Bowers’ condition over the last 24 hours.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter was the first to report that Bowers could be back by week 2, and former NFL team doctor David Chao shared his interpretation of Schefter’s report on Thursday.
“The bad news [is] he just had knee surgery. The good news [is] it’s a meniscus trim,” Chao posted in a video on X.
“This is not a Maxx Crosby meniscus repair with prolonged recovery. It’s a pretty quick recovery timeline. The other bad news is if this is related to the PCL, it’s not Ricky Pearsal related reconstruction of the PCL, but the meniscus tear is likely related to the shifting of his knee and it could have long term, not short term, consequences for the star young Raiders tight end.”
“We expect him to stay off of injured reserve designated for return. He should be shy of four weeks for his return. He’s already on the road to recovery.”
From the outside, the matter of Bowers’ knee has been a little suspicious. He clearly had a knee issue as far back as August 17, but the surgery didn’t take place until September 8.
It’s possible that Bowers tried to play through the pain before deciding on surgery, but there are still details that don’t add up.
Just hours before Schefter reported on Bowers’ knee, head coach Klint Kubiak told members of the media that he was “expecting to have all our guys ready” for the Dolphins in week 1. Kubiak hasn’t clarified those comments, but it’s hard to imagine he didn’t know Bowers had surgery the day before.
In his 8 months with the team, Kubiak hasn’t shared much in the way of injury information from the podium, but he also hasn’t been misleading in what he has said, either.
In the case of Bowers, it would seem Kubiak either didn’t know the timeline of Bowers’ return or really wanted to buy an extra day or two of the Dolphins believing Bowers was going to play on Sunday.
Raiders host believes Bowers dodged a big injury
On Wednesday, Raider Nation Radio host ‘JT the Brick’ seemed to hint he knows more on Bowers’ injury than what was reported by Schefter, and JT believes the Raiders dodged “big news” on Bowers’ knee.
“I could tell you this much. The Raiders, as of now… [it] looks like they dodged some big news with [Ashton] Jeanty and Bowers. They look like they’ve dodged some really bad news,” JT said on his Raider Nation Radio show.
Considering Bowers is expected to be the focal point of the offense this year, the Raiders need him back as quickly as possible, but they also can’t afford to rush him back.
Even with Bowers, the Raiders might only be good for 5-6 wins this year, and risking his long-term health is the last mistake the decision makers in Las Vegas should be willing to make.
x: @raidersbeat