The Las Vegas Raiders received bad news on Sept. 9, as ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported, citing league sources, that tight end Brock Bowers underwent a meniscus trim on Sept. 8 in Dallas with Dr. Daniel Cooper. As a result, the insider also reveals that the expecation is for Bowers to miss “a game or two.”
Las Vegas will open the 2026 NFL season against the Miami Dolphins in Week 1 on Sept. 13 and then against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 20. If Schefter is accurate with his reporting, that’s all Bowers will miss at most.
Nonetheless, Schefter cautioned that Bowers could be back by Week 2 or Week 3, noting that players who get this same surgery to address an injury issue tend to often take a little longer to return.
“Raiders’ All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers injured his knee late last week in practice, and he underwent surgery yesterday in Dallas with Dr. Daniel Cooper to have a meniscus trim,” Schefter said during a Sept. 9 appearance on “NFL Live.”
“I’m told that he is expected to miss a game or two. Now, surgery of that sort usually sidelines players for a longer period of time than that. But it sounds like Bowers is reasonably confident that he can be back in short order here, maybe a game or two. We’ll see.”
Last season, which was plagued by a lingering knee injury, Bowers played 427 pass snaps, leading to a 78.8 overall PFF grade. Moreover, he hauled in 64 receptions on 83 targets for 680 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. Bowers also averaged 10.6 yards per reception and generated 296 yards after the catch.
Michael Mayer Will Get Big Opportunity for Raiders
Moreover, Schefter notes that this will be a major opportunity for Michael Mayer to step into a larger role for the Raiders with Brock Bowers sidelined.
“Michael Mayer will step into the Raiders’ tight end one role as Klint Kubiak makes his head coaching debut for the Las Vegas Raiders against the Miami Dolphins,” Schefter added. “But to lose a player like Bowers when you’re already struggling at that spot also is a blow.”
Brock Bowers’ Potential Outlook Once He Retuns From Injury
Although Bowers’ 2026 NFL season will start a little later, former NFL QB David Carr will be the go-to guy for veteran Kirk Cousins. Carr is buying into Bowers’s fit into that Jaxon Smith-Njigba role and expects double-digit targets per game.
While teams know that the Raiders are trying to get Bowers the football, the former QB adds that he expects Kubiak to be as successful at getting the ball to his tight end as he was at getting the ball to Smith-Njigba.
“They’re looking [Bowers’] direction a lot,” Carr said on the Sept. 3 edition of “Home Grown.” “They do such a good job because people are like, ‘Oh, well, they’re going to know.‘ They knew where JSN was. In Seattle, every snap, and he still had 15 targets a game. That’s exactly how I see Bowers being used.”
It will be interesting to see whether this happens right out of the gate, or whether Bowers is gradually ramped up to the target volume he could see throughout the season.
Raiders’ Brock Bowers Injury News Sparks Warning From NFL Insider