The Las Vegas Raiders didn’t have a lot of positives to take away from last season, but one of the big ones was the arrival of tight end Brock Bowers as an offensive star. Bowers caught over 100 passes from an assortment of bad Raiders quarterbacks, and in most other seasons he would have been offensive Rookie of the Year.
Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels ended up winning that award, but that didn’t lessen the expectations for Bowers this year. We all though he would play an important role in the Raiders offense, and a quick connection with new quarterback Geno Smith was basically assumed.
But that hasn’t happened. Bowers tweaked his knee against the New England Patriots in the Raiders opening road win, and he’s been more or less invisible ever since. He’s caught just 19 passes in four games with no touchdowns, and that connection with Smith has yet to emerge.
Bowers established himself as an offensive presence early last year, catching 15 passes in the Raiders first two games agains the Los Angeles Chargers and the Baltimore Ravens. He had a slow two-game stretch after that, but in the games that followed Bowers was an offensive constant, and his stats included four games in which he caught at least ten passes.
The Raiders need that kind of production from him now, and it’s a fair to ask why it hasn’t surfaced so far. Is he still hurt? Bowers turned up on Thursday’s injury report, and he’s yet to show the same kind of after-the-catch presence in the open field that made him such a formidable threat last year.
The lack of a connection with Smith is also a possibility, and so is a sophomore slump. Bowers bailed out a constantly changing cast of bad quarterbacks last year that included the likes of Aidan O’Connell, Gardner Minshew II and others, but Smith likes to hold the ball and throw downfield. That’s a fine formula if you’ve got premier wideouts and a solid offensive line that can protect the quarterback, but as currently constituted the Raiders don't have either of those things.
Instead they have Smith throwing interceptions while running for his life much of the time, and running back Ashton Jeanty has only gotten untracked in one game. Meanwhile Bowers remains mostly invisible, and new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly has yet to offer any thoughts or insights about why one of the Raiders most talented offensive players has mostly been MIA to date.