Davante Adams

Rookie Raiders TE Brock Bowers led the Raiders catching six of eight targets for 58 yards against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1. Bowers only played 68% of the Raiders' offensive snaps, but still beat out both WRs Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers in targets and catches.

Bowers was utilized all over the formation, just as he was throughout the preseason. The fact that he also led the team in targets while playing alongside established veterans Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers speaks volumes to his expected role in this offense moving forward, with the biggest uncertainty being his ultimate touchdown numbers while playing for an offense expected to be near the bottom of the league in scoring in 2024. Furthering those concerns was ineffective play from quarterback Gardner Minshew, who looked indecisive and lacked pocket presence in the loss. Even so, Bowers can be started with confidence in PPR and TE-premium leagues moving forward.

Adams was out-targeted by rookie tight end Brock Bowers and out-gained by Jakobi Meyers, both of which are troubling revelations considering we saw more instances of Adams running free over the middle of the field with his arms raised without being targeted, a similar nod to what we saw to end the 2023 season with backup level quarterback play. To that end, Minshew looked indecisive and developed "happy feet" multiple times against the Chargers, failing to fully progress through his reads. It's too early to reignite the Las Vegas quarterback competition from preseason, but it is definitely enough to keep an eye on moving forward in Las Vegas.

Meyers was handily out-targeted by Davante Adams and Brock Bowers but still managed to return the highest yardage output of the top trio of pass-catchers in Las Vegas. Even so, the three targets on 33 Gardner Minshew pass attempts is troubling for his fantasy value moving forward. It might be difficult for Meyers to see consistent volume for as long as both Adams and Bowers remain healthy.

Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce told reporters earlier this week that Bowers was "good to go" for Week 1. Bowers practiced in a limited capacity on Wednesday and Thursday. He was upgraded to a full session on Friday before being cleared from the injury report. Bowers was the rare "generational prospect" who deserved the moniker and could immediately step in as the Raiders' de facto No. 2 receiver opposite Davante Adams. He ranks as a low-end TE1 heading into his first NFL game.