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Analysts still have Raiders’ Brock Bowers as top-2 tight end in NFL after sophomore slump
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- Analysts still have Raiders’ Brock Bowers as top-2 tight end in NFL after sophomore slump
Analysts still have Raiders' Brock Bowers as top-2 tight end in NFL after sophomore slump appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
There seems to be no doubt that Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers will get plenty of targets in 2026. Some think he will do well with the attention . And despite his sophomore slump, analysts still have Bowers as a top-two tight end in the NFL.
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Bowers lands only behind Trey McBride , according to Sports Illustrated.
Bowers had 64 catches for 680 yards and seven scores last season. As a rookie, he totaled 112 receptions for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns.
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Raiders TE Brock Bowers highly regarded by new coach
There's no doubt how much new Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak has a fondness for Bowers, according to NFL.com.
"He's kind of a football robot, in a good way," Kubiak said of Bowers on Wednesday. "He's a football robot from heaven. He's a Cadillac out there. We've got to get the most out of Brock. Wherever he goes, he's been successful in college and high school. Whoever has coached him, so I can't say enough great things about him, love his work ethic. He's a standard bearer."
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And it helps to have Kubiak on his side, according to ESPN. Bowers was picked as TE1 over Trey McBride.
"That's how much respect the league has for Bowers," Ben Solak wrote. "He regressed from his 2024 rookie campaign (112 catches, 1,194 yards) in both raw stats and rate stats, and he ended 2025 with 64 catches for 680 yards. His yards per route fell from 2.15 to 1.84.
"But so much was wrong with the 2025 Raiders offense that league executives didn't knock him one bit — and rightfully so. Bowers remains too explosive for most NFL safeties, let alone NFL linebackers. The ease with which he transitions to ball carrier after a catch is unlike any other tight end in the league."
And the usage rates for Jaxon Smith-Njigba under Kubiak's watch were off the charts.
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"Smith-Njigba accounted for 44.1% of the Seahawks' total receiving yards and 35.9% of the team's targets, both of which are the highest numbers since Brandon Marshall in 2012," Solak wrote. "We're in an era of football in which targets are centralized more easily than ever before, and JSN was a perfect candidate to fill that Atlas role, given his versatility of alignments and complete route tree.
"Bowers can also line up everywhere and run every route."
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