Rookie tight end Brock Bowers has been suspiciously missing from Las Vegas Raiders practice as of late. He also missed the team's final two preseason games. With the NFL season about to kick off, there's been some concern about his status ahead of the opener against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Well, head coach Antonio Pierce has finally given a clear update on Bowers and it sounds like good news.
“Yeah, I feel really good about that to be honest,” Pierce said of Bowers. “Just again, I’m going to go back to protecting the young guy. Sometimes you get in the league, you have got to be smart and sometimes you have got to protect them from themselves. So, that’s all it is.”
Though he hasn't been practicing, it sounds like Bowers has a good chance to play in Week 1. That'll be important for the Raiders as they need the young tight end to have a big season if they hope to have a productive offense. It's still not entirely clear what exactly is wrong with Bowers but it doesn't seem like there's reason to be too concerned.
While it was a positive update on Bowers, it's looking like second-round pick Jackson Powers-Johnson won't have a role to start the season. Though he's back at practice, Pierce isn't confident he'll be ready to play in Week 1.
"I think that's still to be seen," Pierce said. "I mean, four practices, or so, five. Gotta get him in football shape."
The Raiders offensive line has some major question marks and not having the highly-touted rookie play would be a blow. However, the team didn't have him for much of training camp so it'll be the Cody Whitehair show for now.
If the veteran struggles, the Raiders likely won't wait too long to get Power-Johnson onto the field but there's no sense of rushing the rookie quite yet.