Getty Las Vegas Raiders TE Brock Bowers.
Very few things have gone right for the Las Vegas Raiders this season, but rookie tight end Brock Bowers continues to prove he was worth a first-round pick. Though the team lost 34-19 to the Miami Dolphins, it wasn’t due to Bowers.
The rookie had 13 catches for 124 yards and a touchdown. With his 13 catches, he now holds the record for most catches by a rookie tight end in a single game. Former New York Giants tight end Mark Bavaro previously set the recording in 1985 when he had 12 catches against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Bowers was one of the most hyped tight end prospects to ever come into the NFL and he’s exceeding expectations. He’s now at 70 receptions on the season, which puts him on track to break even more records. He’s only 16 receptions away from tying the rookie tight end receptions record set by Sam LaPorta last season. He also only needs 371 receiving yards to break Mike Ditka’s rookie receiving yards record.
Bowers is also doing this with subpar quarterback play. Many question the Raiders for drafting a tight end in the first round when it wasn’t a position of need but nobody can question them now after seeing Bowers play.
Raiders Offense Continues to Struggle
Heading into the bye week, the Raiders underwent an offensive overhaul and fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. Scott Turner replaced Getsy as playcaller but that didn’t lead to much success.
The Raiders could only muster 19 offensive points against the Dolphins, which isn’t a great sign that Turner is going to fix the offense. Gardner Minshew didn’t have a terrible game against Miami but he’s still taking a lot of sacks of threw another interception.
The Raiders also don’t have a receiver who can get consistently open outside of Bowers. He was the only player to have more than three receptions against the Dolphins. It’s going to take a lot more than a change of playcaller to fix this offense and they’ll likely continue to struggle the rest of the way.
Raiders Officially Have to Look Toward 2025 Draft
Any hope the Raiders had of a late-season turnaround is effectively over. At 2-8, they would have to win the rest of their games to even have a chance. At this point, the only thing the team has to focus on is next season.
It’s clear that Minshew and Aidan O’Connell aren’t going to be the long-term options at quarterback. The Raiders will likely be aggressive in trying to upgrade the position in the offseason, which should lead them to the draft.
Luckily, they’re tied for having the second-worst record in the NFL so they have a good chance of landing a top-five pick. It’s hard to imagine the Raiders won’t win at least one more game this season but as long as they can end with a top-10 pick, they should have a chance to land a top quarterback prospect. It’s a nightmare season for Las Vegas but it could have big long-term implications for the franchise. The biggest question now is what happens to head coach Antonio Pierce after this season.
