Brock Bowers has been battling a knee injury since Week 1 but has yet to miss a game for the Las Vegas Raiders this season.
However, all signs are pointing to Bowers sitting out on Sunday for the Week 5 game against the Indianapolis Colts, which takes place at Lucas Oil Stadium. Should Bowers sit, it will be the first game he misses in his young career.
Bowers started off the week as a limited participant in practice, but he then sat out the next two sessions before drawing a questionable tag. What's troubling about his level of participation is that Bowers practiced in full throughout the week last week.
Here's what we know about Bowers' status for Sunday.
Is Brock Bowers playing today?
According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero, Bowers is "trending toward not playing" versus the Colts.
"Raiders star TE Brock Bowers is trending toward not playing Sunday against the Colts, per me and Tom Pelissero," Rapoport wrote on Saturday. "Bowers has been battling a knee injury. While coach Pete Carroll expressed confidence in Bowers being out on the field, his knee didn’t respond."
This is the right move by the Raiders.
It has been clear Bowers isn't 100%, as evidenced by his dip in production the last few weeks since suffering the injury. Las Vegas needs to protect its best offensive player and make sure he gets right before returning to the field.
As far as Bowers' status for Week 6 is concerned, he remains up in the air.
Bowers isn't the only Raiders tight end we're monitoring. The team's 2023 second-round pick, Michael Mayer, is questionable with a concussion that kept him out of last week's game.
In order to add more help at tight end, the Raiders announced they have elevated veteran Albert Okwuegbunam from the practice squad. He joins Ian Thomas and Carter Runyon as the healthy tight ends on Las Vegas' roster.
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