The Case For Brock Bowers As Fantasy Football 2026 TE1
Fantasy

The Case For Brock Bowers As Fantasy Football 2026 TE1

Ian Hartitz analyzes the Las Vegas Raiders' tight ends, featuring Brock Bowers as the potential TE1 for fantasy football in 2026.

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An early-season knee injury to Brock Bowers robbed us of at least some fantasy goodness out of what was an otherwise forgettable season for the Las Vegas Raiders. When he came back, he gave us more than glimpses of what we missed out on ... as most teams that spent an early-round pick on him were sitting out the fantasy playoffs. Now he's back as the clear No. 1 target for the Raiders. Can he be TE1 overall? lan Hartitz breaks it down as part of the Las Vegas Raiders Team Preview. 

Is Brock Bowers in play as an early Round 2 fantasy pick?

Abso-lutely. Bowers' encore campaign was unfortunately undone by a lingering knee injury, bad QB play and a scheme that was rough enough to warrant OC Chip Kelly getting fired in November. And yet, Bowers still somehow finished as fantasy's TE2 in PPR points per game!

It'd certainly be a lot cooler if the latter QB and scheme variable were guaranteed to be in a better place this season, but hey, they're at least moving in the right direction. The two biggest factors here …

  • Talent: Bowers put forward one of the best rookie seasons the position has ever seen in 2024 and is most people's idea of the most talented pass catcher at the position. Look at this beast!
  • Volume: Only Trey McBride (134 targets) is projected to see more total pass-game opportunities than Bowers (130) at the position. The next-closest TE is Colston Loveland (114). Only 10 wide receivers are projected for more targets than Bowers ahead of 2026.

Bowers is the only show in town for this passing game—and he just so happens to be a really good one! It's tough to always click him over legit top-10 wide receivers and top-12 RBs in the middle of Round 2, but hitting on Bowers this season will enable your fantasy team to bring a gun to most knife fights in your weekly tight end battles.

Also note: Michael Mayer is someone I continue to stash on dynasty rosters in the hope that he'll eventually get a real chance to start somewhere. After all, the 24-year-old former 35th overall pick has one of the better profiles in the history of Fantasy Life's Rookie Super Model. Don't expect fireworks as long as he's the team's overqualified No. 2 TE behind Bowers, but hey, have you seen this wide receiver room? It'd make a lot of sense if Mayer is a de facto starter this season, and he'll be on the cover of every waiver wire in the industry if Bowers is forced to miss any time.

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Brock Bowers
    BrockBowers
    TELVLV
    PPG
    11.9
    Proj
    194.7

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