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It was a rollercoaster 2025 NFL season for Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers. After an impressive rookie campaign, injury and the team’s play at QB impacted his second season in the league.

Last season for the Silver and Black, Bowers posted a 78.8 overall PFF grade, 6th among 37 qualified tight ends. Moreover, the Raiders star recorded a PFF receiving grade of 82.2, ranked 5th among 37 qualified tight ends.

Bowers also hauled in 64 receptions on 83 targets for 680 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. He averaged 10.6 yards per reception on the season, generated 296 yards after the catch, and was charged with 3 drops on the year.

Ahead of his third season in the NFL, The Athletic’s Sam Warren sees a promising campaign on the horizon for Bowers as new head coach Klint Kubiak has experience getting the most out of his tight ends.

“Injuries and inconsistent quarterback play led to a drop in production for Bowers in Year 2,” Warren wrote in an article on April 29. “But it was always going to be hard to top his record-setting rookie season. Even with missing five games, Bowers was 10th among tight ends in receiving yards (680) and tied for fifth in touchdowns (seven).

“Kubiak has gotten good production out of his tight ends at each of his stops, and Bowers will be the first elite one the coach has worked with since George Kittle in San Francisco. As long as Bowers remains healthy, he could have a big year under his new head coach.”

Raiders Urged to Potentially Make Trade for Kayshon Boutte

The Raiders have questions about their wideouts, but if Las Vegas gets the Bowers they saw in his rookie season, that might limit those concerns. Nonetheless, that isn’t stopping speculation about which receiver the Raiders could pursue in the veteran free-agent market or trade for.

For The Athletic’s Robert Mays, he believes the Raiders should go the trade route and buy low on a player without leveraging any of their Day 1 or Day 2 picks in the 2027 NFL Draft. Mays proposed that Las Vegas pursue Kayshon Boutte, who could be the odd man out if the New England Patriots trade for A.J. Brown.

“The actual real thing that the Raiders could do, that is within the realm of possibility and is not us screwing around because it’s April 29 and we are trying to have a good time, is: Can you trade a fifth-round pick for Kayshon Boutte?” Mays said on the April 30 edition of “The Athletic Football Show.”

“It’s that type of stuff they actually probably should be thinking about, not the pie-in-the-sky idea of whether they can snatch away A.J. Brown from the Patriots. It’s not going to happen.”

Could Las Vegas Look Into the Veteran Free Agent Market?

Nonetheless, could the Raiders look at the veteran wideout market to improve the group before the 2026 NFL season? Moreover, if Las Vegas goes with Kirk Cousins to start the campaign, might they want to add a wide receiver with a past connection to him?

In an April 29 article, CBS Sports’ Zachary Pereles stated that the best free agent fit is Stefon Diggs, who played with Cousins while with the Minnesota Vikings.

“Diggs showed last year he can still really play, even if his snap share was way down,” Pereles wrote. “A talented separator who snatches the ball with hands like glue, Diggs would really help a Raiders wide receiver group bereft of his skill set and bereft of experience. The youngsters could play a lot, but Diggs could still see planty of work on crucial downs.”