After a rookie campaign of epic proportions in which he etched his name in NFL and the Las Vegas Raiders' history books, Brock Bowers was on the league's mountaintop at tight end. ESPN quickly anointed him as the league's best player at the position, and Bowers was only scratching the surface.
But the 2025 NFL season was not kind to Bowers in several ways. Not only did he get badly banged up in a Week 1 win, which sidelined him at times, hampered him all year, and ultimately ended his campaign early, but Bowers also dealt with some of the worst coaching ineptitude in recent memory.
Not only was the quarterback situation bad, but Chip Kelly was uniquely unqualified to coach a player of Bowers' magnitude. Luckily, people aren't putting too much weight into last year, which is good in some ways, but also makes last season feel even more wasted for the Silver and Black.
Brock Bowers peaking NFL TE list is proof of Las Vegas Raiders' failures
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler has recently been polling NFL executives, coaches and scouts about the best players in the league at each position. Although most of Raider Nation believes that Bowers is the best tight end in the NFL, nobody expected him to get his proper due, especially after last year.
Lo and behold, though, those around the league concluded that Bowers is the gold standard for tight ends once again, coming in at No. 1 in the rankings for the second straight year. The lowest anyone had Bowers on their ballot was No. 3, and they lathered him with praise.
"As far as route running, separation, zone instincts, yards-after-catch ability combination -- he's better than the field in those areas," an NFL coordinator said. "A down year won't change that."
"One sign of Bowers' greatness: Opponents sometimes put their best cornerback on him, as Denver did with Pat Surtain II last season," Fowler noted.
While this is all great to hear about the Raiders' third-year tight end, who figures to cash in on a lucrative extension in Las Vegas as soon as he's eligible, it is also a brutal reminder of just how badly the Silver and Black wasted their 2025 campaign.
Not only did Pete Carroll and Co. have the NFL's best tight end, albeit not at full strength, and still have the worst offense in the league by a country mile, but things were so bad that folks aren't even putting stock into the year at all.
Last season, with such a young roster, the Raiders had a chance to develop their inexperienced talent, especially as the wheels fell off the wagon later in the campaign. But the Carroll experiment ended early because they didn't maximize or teach their first and second-year guys.
Luckily, the arrow is pointing up for Bowers in Klint Kubiak's offense, so Las Vegas can have both the best tight end in the NFL, hopefully at full strength, and a litany of youngsters developing alongside him. It doesn't take away the sting of 2025, but in time, that will fade.
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