Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers had one of the greatest rookie seasons ever in 2024, but couldn’t maintain that level of production in Year 2. The main reason for that was a knee injury he suffered in Week 1.
By the time he was healthy, the Raiders were a disaster and fired offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. The team also had terrible quarterback play. This year, Bowers has a top offensive playcaller in Klint Kubiak and an upgrade at quarterback in either Kirk Cousins or Fernando Mendoza.
The Raiders also don’t have a clear No. 1 wide receiver, so Bowers could effectively fill that role. ESPN’s Ben Solak put together a list of predictions for the 2026 season, and he’s predicting that Bowers will win Offensive Player of the Year.
“A tight end has never won the AP Offensive Player of the Year,” Solak wrote. “The closest one has gotten was Travis Kelce in 2020, with a whopping three votes to tie Bills QB Josh Allen for fourth. Arizona’s Trey McBride got a first-place vote last year for his 126-catch, 1,239-yard, 11-touchdown season — rightfully so. But it would have been tough to catch Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
“But this year, Smith-Njigba’s old coordinator is Bowers’ new coach. Klint Kubiak proved in Seattle that he can funnel targets to a star pass catcher through a variety of alignments and motions. Bowers is capable of lining up attached to the line, in the slot and out wide. It might already feel like he has been funneled targets in the Raiders’ poor offense, but he has only a 24.8% target rate on routes run over his two years in the NFL. That’s 21st among all high-volume receivers (200-plus routes) and fourth among tight ends.”
Solak Expects Record-Breaking Season
As Solak noted, a tight end has never won Offensive Player of the Year. If Bowers is going to make history and be the first to win the award, he has to have the greatest season ever for a tight end.
That’s exactly what Solak expects from Bowers.
“Bowers can’t just feast as the lone option on a losing team, though,” Solak wrote. “That’s what McBride did — he set the tight end record with 126 receptions last season, beating the previous mark by 10 catches. But nobody cared about the Cardinals, so his draw against Smith-Njigba (and Christian McCaffrey and Puka Nacua and Bijan Robinson) was really tough. It will take a soft draw for Bowers to emerge, but given the attention with Mendoza in hand, I think he’ll see enough shine that he wins this award with a record-setting season of his own. McBride did it with catches, but I think Bowers might be better suited to best Kelce’s 1,416 receiving yards from 2020.”
Can Bowers Actually Make History?
As a rookie, Bowers had 112 receptions and 1,194 yards. That was with Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell at quarterback. If Mendoza starts the majority of the games, Bowers is going to get a ton of targets.
Rookie quarterbacks love tight ends, and Bowers is without question the best weapon on the team’s offense. A lot of things have to go right, but if there’s a tight end who would win Offensive Player of the Year, it would be Bowers.
Raiders TE Brock Bowers Gets Historic Awards Prediction