Raiders TE Brock Bowers Closing In On Historic Milestone

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the Las Vegas Raiders before the regular season starts, which isn’t usually how fans are feeling about this team in recent years.

After going 3-14 last season allowed the Raiders to select Indiana quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick at the 2026 National Football League draft, Las Vegas cleaned house within the coaching staff and heavily invested in improving the roster heading into this season.

Las Vegas had over $120 million in salary cap space to use for this season and committed over $280 million to their new players, which included the top free agent center (Tyler Linderbaum) and two of the top free agent linebackers (Nakobe Dean, Quay Walker).

The Raiders are trying to build a winner the right way and is surrounding their top young stars with great talent. Among those stars is All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers, who is primed to have an incredible season after a knee injury forced him to miss some time in 2025.

Bowers, 23, is a two-time Pro Bowler and was selected as a first-team All-Pro for his electric rookie season in which he caught 112 passes for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns over 17 games.

Last season, the electrifying Bowers caught 64 passes for 680 yards and seven touchdowns despite missing five games. He’s looking to bounce back with either Mendoza or veteran Kirk Cousins as his QB, with Cousins likely getting the nod to start the season.

Bowers is closing in on further cementing himself as the best tight end in the league – he’s 13 receptions away from surpassing Dallas Cowboys and former Raiders TE Jason Witten for the most by a tight end under the age of 24 in NFL history.

“Bowers needs only 13 catches to reach this milestone, and it wouldn't be surprising if he did it in the season opener against the Dolphins,” ESPN’s Ryan McFadden wrote Monday. “Bowers has recorded at least 10 receptions in a game on five occasions, most recently in Week 9 of 2025 against the Jaguars (12).

“He also had 13 catches against the Dolphins in Week 11 of 2024. Bowers has been QB Kirk Cousins' go-to target throughout training camp, so expect the third-year tight end to be targeted often in Week 1.”

Bowers will serve as the top receiver in head coach Klint Kubiak’s system that thrived with a star pass-catcher (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) and the offense should hit the ground running in Week 1 against a weak Miami Dolphins team.