Brock Bowers' rookie year with the Las Vegas Raiders was unlike anything the NFL had seen from a tight end. In many ways, it seemed like even he wouldn't be able to beat the historic production he posted in 2024.
Through five games of the 2026 season, Klint Kubiak has put Bowers on pace to shatter his rookie numbers. He has become the focal point of the Raiders' offense and has seen a massive shift in his role compared to last season.
So far, that role is looking strikingly similar to the one that Jaxon Smith-Njigba played for Kubiak last season.
Brock Bowers is playing the Jaxon Smith-Njigba role in Klint Kubiak's Raiders offense
Of course, the two players are significantly different. Even if Bowers blurs positional lines, he's still a tight end. But his usage is as close to Smith-Njigba's as a tight end could get.
Bowers is lining up out wide much more often than he has in the past. In fact, he's lining up out wide more often than any other tight end in the NFL — by ten percentage points. Nearly half of his snaps are coming from outside the numbers compared to just 18.8% last season.
Similarly, Kubiak shifted Smith-Njigba to a more outside-focused role in his lone season as the Seattle Seahawks' offensive coordinator. In both cases, the switch led to a major increase in efficiency.
2025 Brock Bowers | 2026 Brock Bowers | 2025 Jaxon Smith-Njigba | |
|---|---|---|---|
Outside % | 18.8% | 40.8% | 73.6% |
Average depth of target | 7.5 yards | 10.3 yards | 11.7 yards |
Yards per route run | 1.7 yards | 2.79 yards | 3.42 yards |
Bowers is being used as a downfield threat much more often. Last year, most of his targets came either behind the line of scrimmage or fewer than ten yards downfield. Per PFF, 59.4% of his targets have come more than ten yards downfield this year.
As a result, he's leading all tight ends in yards per route run by a significant margin. Even at such a high target rate, he has been one of the most efficient receiving targets in the NFL, regardless of position. He ranks 20th in the NFL in receiving yards, and he's only played in three games.
Even without other top receiving threats in the offense, and with Kirk Cousins under center, the Raiders have been able to produce an effective passing attack. That's largely because of the way that Kubiak is using Bowers.
He might not finish the season with the ridiculous numbers that Smith-Njigba put up last season, but Bowers is on pace to have the most productive year of his young career. So far, Kubiak's arrival has been a massive boost for the superstar tight end.
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