The Raiders got Brock Bowers (knee) back in week 3 against the Saints, and it took only one game for Bowers to remind the league that he’s still the best tight end in the NFL.
Just 19 days after a meniscus trim on September 8, Bowers put up 116 receiving yards on 10 receptions against the Saints and was virtually uncoverable for all four quarters of the game.
A lot has been discussed about how head coach Klint Kubiak is planning to use Bowers, and the way it played out on Sunday is Kubiak primarily used Bowers as a wide receiver.
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah talked about Bowers on his podcast this week, and said it’s extremely rare that he sees an NFL player stand out among his peers the way Bowers does.
From Jeremiah, via the Move the Sticks podcast…
“I could make the claim that [Bowers] is the toughest cover in the NFL right now, and I know all of the receivers we have in this league and the talented players that we have. When you watch Brock Bowers, it’s like watching a bigger Amon-Ra St. Brown just play tight end. You should not be able to be that big and move like that. They’re covering him with Kool-Aid McKinstry throughout this game. Like he’s on a corner and he’s lining up all over the place. He’s splitting out, he’s flexed and he just kind of gave him the business for the vast majority of the game.
It was insane watching this tape. Short area burst, legit. They put him in the wing; he’ll settle in space. Wide receiver, like a quick option route, and then explodes up the field. I just wrote down on my notes, bigger Amon-Ra St. Brown, like that’s just stupid. Outside, he’s getting three yards of separation on a corner and Kool-Aid McKinstry working on the outside. And then Kool-Aid gets physical with him so he just kind of collisions him at the top of the route and then makes a combat catch, you know, makes him kind of draped all over him. Then he goes stutter go and he just adjusts and makes a back shoulder.
You do not think this is a tight end when you’re watching him do all this stuff. It’s insane. And then the red zone, a little pick route in the flat for a TD. And I just wrote down in my notes, ‘elite, elite, elite, exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point.’ When you’re going from game to game, like I do on Mondays and you’re watching all these different players and all these great, talented players, it’s hard to jump off the screen and look different. Brock Bowers looks completely different than anybody right now, the way he’s moving. It’s a cheat code.”
Raiders have a “freak of nature” in Bowers
The California Post’s Vinny Bonsignore has covered Bowers since he was drafted by the Raiders in 2024 and Bonsignore described as a “freak of nature” and “true difference maker” after Sunday’s game.
“There were guys that were making differences in that game, a lot of them, right? We can acknowledge that. [But] there’s a difference maker on this team, just a straight difference maker, and that’s a guy by the name of Brock Bowers,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate.
“We talk about the importance of having a true difference maker, somebody that can tilt the field in your direction on a consistent basis and all due respect to everybody that was making plays out there… but the Raiders have a freak of nature and his name is Brock Bowers. They don’t win that game without Brock Bowers on the field yesterday. That’s just the long and short of it. He dominated the Saints. He made them rethink how they had to do everything defensively against him.”
x: @raidersbeat