The Las Vegas Raiders' offense has struggled without star tight end Brock Bowers during the 2025 NFL season. While he has played in four of the team's seven games, he left early in Week 1, and the Raiders have been brutally blown out in two of the three games that he missed.
Plus, Bowers was a shell of himself earlier in the year anyway, as he admirably tried to play through a fairly significant knee injury. Las Vegas was wise to finally shut him down ahead of Week 5 and allow him to heal up.
But fans have been wondering when the 2024 First-Team All-Pro tight end would return to the lineup, as he's impossible for other teams to cover when he's at 100%. Fortunately, it seems like things are trending in the right direction ahead of the Raiders' Week 9 clash with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Brock Bowers sure sounds like he's ready to return to the field for Raiders
On Wednesday, the team returned to practice after their much-needed bye in Week 8. ESPN's Ryan McFadden caught up with Bowers and asked him about his return from injury, and the one-liner that he delivered should fire fans up.
"I’m closer now and ready to roll."Brock Bowers on returning from injury
While fans may cling to the first part of that quote, it is the back half that truly matters. If Bowers is ready to roll, his being at 96%, 98% or 100% is just semantics. The star tight end said himself that he is "ready to roll," so Raider Nation should expect to see him out there on Sunday.
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This sentiment was, of course, corroborated by head coach Pete Carroll when he spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon.
"He looks great. He really does. He looks like he's full speed and he's back," Carroll said. "Last week, in the three days that we had, he looked good every day. Particularly good on the Monday practice; he kind of started to steal the show a little bit. So, we're thrilled to have him back."
Geno Smith also spoke to the media on Wednesday and talked about Bowers' return.
"Brock's a big part of our offense, and we missed him out there, for sure," Smith said. "(We'll need to have) repetition and continue to work him through it; work him into it. You know, seeing how he feels and stuff like that. ... He looked fine to me. So, really happy to have him back."
It sure sounds like Carroll and Smith both believe Bowers will be back, and it also seems like the second-year stud is moving at a speed that he hasn't been in recent weeks. Between Bowers and Maxx Crosby both seemingly returning in Week 9, there is a lot to celebrate in Raider Nation.