Klint Kubiak: I was optimistic Brock Bowers would be able to go, but he's not

Published September 11, 2026 04:26 PM On Wednesday, a curious situation came up with the Raiders, head coach Klint Kubiak, tight end Brock Bowers, and the media. During his press conference, Kubiak was asked directly if Bowers and edge rusher Maxx Crosby would be available to play the Dolphins to open the season. In response, Kubiak said, “We’re expecting to have all of our guys ready for Sunday.” But later that day, multiple reporters noted that Bowers will miss 1-2 games after undergoing a meniscus trim procedure on Tuesday. Bowers suffered the injury during training camp, and the surgery to address it was scheduled last week.“I was optimistic earlier that Brock would be able to go — he’s not,” Kubiak said as part of his opening statement in his Friday press conference. “We’ll get him back soon.” Given the discrepancy, that did not cut off Kubiak’s questions about Bowers.“It all happened pretty quick, I don’t remember exactly what day,” Kubiak said on the timeline from finding out about Bowers’ injury to his procedure. “But he got it cleaned up and we’ll get him back soon.”Kubiak added that he’s not going to talk about a timeline, when asked about the report that Bowers will be out for 1-2 weeks.“We’ll hope to get him back as soon as possible,” Kubiak said, adding that he was optimistic the tight end would be back this week even after the procedure.Bowers, the No. 13 overall pick of the 2024 draft, figures to be a significant part of Las Vegas’ offense when he returns. Limited to 12 games due to injury last season, Bowers caught 64 passes for 680 yards with seven touchdowns. As a rookie, he caught 112 passes for 1,194 yards with five TDs.