Klint Kubiak’s offense could unlock an even more dangerous Brock Bowers. The Las Vegas Raiders could be on the verge of truly unlocking No. 89’s talent.
Bowers has already been labeled the best tight end in football after just two seasons in the NFL. Now, the new coaching staff for the Raiders believes he hasn’t even begun to reach his potential. If you’re not a Raiders fan, that’s a rather daunting statement to consider.
Kubiak, the new shotcaller in Sin City, didn’t hold back his excitement early in OTAs. “He’s kind of a football robot, in a good way,” Kubiak said. “He’s a football robot from heaven; he’s a Cadillac out there. We’ve got to get the most out of Brock.”
That last line is key because arguably, the Raiders haven’t done that in a couple of years.
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How will the Raiders adjust their usage of Brock Bowers?
Bowers ran just over 25 percent of his routes from the tight end position during his first two seasons, according to Next Gen Stats. What’s even more is that number is expected to climb under Kubiak. Early practice reports back it up: Bowers has worked heavily out of the slot and run crossing routes that are a staple of Kubiak’s play-action scheme, and the staff is actively experimenting with his alignment to create mismatches. Expect more motion, jet sweeps, and backfield touches, too. It’ll be a similar deployment Bowers had under Georgia’s Todd Monken in college.
The track record for Kubiak-coached tight ends is legitimate. In his lone season as Seattle’s offensive coordinator in 2025, AJ Barner finished third among tight ends in targets and yards. A year earlier in New Orleans, Juwan Johnson paced that offense in receiving yards. Bowers will be the most talented player Kubiak has ever had at the position, a notch above both.
And Bowers hasn’t even shown his ceiling yet. Despite a banged-up 2025 season limited to 12 games, he still posted a team-leading seven receiving touchdowns and ranked sixth among 37 qualified tight ends in Pro Football Focus grades. He did all that with inconsistent quarterback play and a broken offense around him. That’s why it’s plausible that we haven’t seen the best version of Bowers.
Now he gets a coach who has already proven he knows exactly how to use a game-breaking tight end, a quarterback room getting sorted out, and a play-caller who’s promised to build the offense around his best players.
If everything clicks, Bowers isn’t just in for a bounce-back year. He could be in for the best season a Raiders tight end has ever had.
*Top Photo: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images