The Las Vegas Raiders have been one of the best surprises of the 2026 season so far. Vegas is 2-0 and looking dangerous under the leadership of head coach Klint Kubiak. The situation will look even better once the Raiders get one of their best offensive weapons back from injury.
ESPN's Dan Graziano shared some intel from around the league in his latest article. He touched on the availability of Brock Bowers, who could make his season debut this weekend.
Apparently Bowers looked pretty good towards the end of last week's practices.
“People in that building thought tight end Brock Bowers was moving around well in practice last Friday and had a strong chance to make his 2026 debut this week against a tough Saints defense in New Orleans,” Graziano wrote. “I wouldn't expect too many limitations on Bowers' snap count or target count right away.”
Bowers had a meniscus trim surgery just before the regular season. Vegas expected to miss Bowers for a few games after the procedure.
To his credit, Bowers has made an incredible recovery from that surgery and could be ready to suit up in Week 3.
However, Graziano warned that the Raiders' position at 2-0 could make the team even more cautious with Bowers. At least if they're on the fence about his status headed into Sunday's game.
“This honestly seems like a situation where the team wanted to be 100% certain about Bowers' health before they put him on the field, and it sounded like they were getting pretty close to that level of certainty even heading into last week's game,” Graziano added. “Being 2-0, of course, gives the Raiders a cushion and justifies waiting to be sure on Bowers if there's anything at all that bothers him in practice this week. But my sense is that it's more likely he plays this week than not.”
Whenever he returns, Bowers will give the Raiders another dynamic weapon on offense. It will be exciting to see how defenses defend both him and Ashton Jeanty at the same time.
Raiders at Saints kicks off at 4:25PM ET on September 27th from Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.