brock bowers ashton jeanty
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Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Las Vegas Raiders could be putting together an exciting offense. They scored fewer points than any team in the NFL last season, but there aressome major upgrades joining the franchise.
First, new head coach Klint Kubiak has proven to be one of the better playcallers in the NFL. The Raiders haven’t had a strong offensive playcaller in a few years, so on that fact alone, the offense should be greatly improved.
However, that’s not the only way the offense might be upgrading. The Raiders are expected to use the No. 1 pick to select Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. He has a chance to be a long-time franchise quarterback for the team.
Luckily, the Raiders would be giving him a bit to work with. One piece that Mendoza sounds excited to work with is running back Ashton Jeanty. He didn’t have the rookie season many expected, but he showed a lot of exciting flashes.
Mendoza had some high praise for the young running back.
“Ashton Jeanty should’ve been Heisman winner the year before,” Mendoza told CBS Sports. “He should have an attribute on like Madden that whenever the first tackle is, he always breaks. What a phenomenal player.”
Jeanty ended up losing the Heisman Trophy in 2024 to former Colorado star Travis Hunter, but Mendoza thinks that was the wrong choice.
Mendoza Praises Brock Bowers
Perhaps a more exciting player for Mendoza to work with is tight end Brock Bowers. With the Raiders offense having a chaotic 2025, Bowers didn’t put up the huge numbers we saw during his rookie year.
Now that Bowers has Kubiak calling plays and possibly Mendoza throwing him the ball, he could have a huge bounce-back season. Mendoza is a big fan of Bowers and expects to throw it to him a lot if he ends up with the Raiders.
“What a great player,” Mendoza said of Bowers. “It’s phenomenal, and every quarterback’s best friend is a tight end. I love throwing the ball to tight ends.”
Raiders Need More Pieces on Offense
A trio of Mendoza, Jeanty and Bowers is a very good starting point for an offense. That’s a dynamic young trio for the Raiders to build around. However, the team is pretty devoid of talent on the rest of the offensive roster.
Left tackle Kolton Miller is solid, but he’s getting older. Jackson Powers-Johnson has shown a lot of promise, but he’s dealt with injuries in each of his first two seasons.
The wide receiver room is very weak. Jack Bech was a second-round pick last year, so he still has potential. Dont’e Thornton has a rare combination of size and speed, so he’s very interesting, but there are a lot of unproven young players.
The Raiders need to add pieces to the offensive line and wide receiver room. A true No. 1 wide receiver would go a long way toward boosting the offense. It’s also no secret that the offensive line was one of the worst in the NFL next season. Expect the Raiders to address those position groups in free agency.