Brock Bowers’s second NFL season has come to a close. According to a report Wednesday from ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, the Raiders have placed Bowers on season-ending injured reserve due to to a knee injury that has lingered throughout the season.
The Raiders (2–13) are in the middle of an nine-game losing streak ahead of their Week 17 matchup against the Giants before wrapping up their season with a home finale against the Chiefs.
Bowers missed Weeks 5, 6 and 7 as he was sidelined due to a PCL injury in his knee. He returned in Week 9 against the Jaguars following Las Vegas’s bye week.
Despite missing three games, the second-year tight end leads the Raiders across the board in receiving with 64 receptions for 680 yards and seven touchdowns. Bowers has been named a Pro Bowler in each of his first two NFL seasons. After the Raiders made him the 13th pick in the 2024 NFL draft, he led the team in receiving as a rookie with 112 catches for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns.
The Georgia product’s emergence on Sundays has yet to turn around the Raiders as a unit, finishing 4-13 in his first year and on pace for a worse finish to this season behind quarterback Geno Smith and coach Pete Carroll, who both arrived in Las Vegas this season.
Without anything to play for other than the top pick in next year’s NFL draft, the Raiders will have their star tight end sit and get healthy. The contest Sunday against the Giants has major draft implications as both teams sit at 2-13, tied for the worst record in the NFL.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Raiders Place Brock Bowers on IR to End His Second Season.