The Las Vegas Raiders placed star tight end Brock Bowers on injured reserve on Wednesday due to a lingering knee injury, ending his season prematurely with two games remaining.
The Raiders host the New York Giants on Sunday, a game between 2-13 teams tied for the worst record in the league that will be critical in deciding who gets the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Las Vegas enters the pivotal matchup with a 34 percent chance to land the top pick, while the Giants have a 33 percent chance, according to The Athletic’s simulator. The loser of the game will own the NFL’s worst record entering the final weekend of the regular season. The Raiders will play a Kansas City Chiefs team in Week 18 that has been eliminated from the playoffs and is quarterbacked by third-stringer Chris Oladokun, following season-ending injuries to Patrick Mahomes and Gardner Minshew. The Giants will finish the season by hosting the Dallas Cowboys, who also have already been eliminated from postseason contention.
Bowers set the bar high with a strong rookie season in 2024, as he caught 112 passes for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns while earning first-team All-Pro honors. His sophomore season, however, was filled with disappointment. He suffered a knee injury in Week 1 and tried to play through it before missing three games in October.
He returned to the lineup in Week 9 and instantly shined, catching 12 passes for 127 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-29 overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Aside from Week 1, that ended up being Bowers’ only 100-yard receiving game this season. He finished his second year in the NFL with 64 catches for 680 yards and seven touchdowns in 12 games played.
While injuries played a major role in Bowers’ down year, the ineptitude of the Raiders’ offense under new head coach Pete Carroll didn’t help, either.
The Raiders, who had Minshew and Aidan O’Connell at quarterback last year, thought they had made a considerable upgrade after trading for Geno Smith in the offseason. But Smith has struggled to find his groove in Las Vegas, throwing a league-leading 15 interceptions to 18 touchdown passes in 14 games, with a 67.1 percent completion rate.
The Raiders drafted running back Ashton Jeanty at No. 6 last year but left him running behind a shoddy offensive line. Wide receiver Jakobi Meyers requested a trade in August after he and the team could not resolve a contract dispute, and the Raiders sent him to the Jacksonville Jaguars at the trade deadline. The struggles culminated in offensive coordinator Chip Kelly’s firing in Week 11, after a 24-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns dropped the team to 2-9.
Las Vegas also placed safety Jeremy Chinn on injured reserve on Wednesday.