Brock Bowers
Getty
The Miami Dolphins have known for months and months that they’d be taking on the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season.
For months, then, that meant they knew they’d have to be ready for running back Ashton Jeanty and tight end Brock Bowers. Those are the two stars of the Raiders’ offense.
It all seemed to be business as usual on Wednesday when Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak spoke to reporters in his mid-day press conference and said, “Yeah, we’re expecting to have all our guys ready for Sunday.”
Only hours after that, though, the news was reported that Bowers wouldn’t be playing in Week 1.
What Happened To Brock Bowers?
ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news on Wednesday afternoon.
Bowers apparently underwent a “meniscus trim” on Tuesday and is going to miss “a game or two,” Schefter writes.
He needed the procedure after getting “banged up” in the preseason. The injury was diagnosed last week, Schefter writes.
So it certainly seems like Kubiak knew the status of Bowers when he was giving that press conference. He chose not to be forthcoming about the information anyway.
Bowers is a crucial player, so on the one hand, you can understand a bit of what Kubiak might be getting at here.
Bowers had 112 catches as a rookie for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns. In 2025, he regressed to 64 catches for 680 yards and seven TDs in 12 games — and his per-game rates were all worse, too.
But regardless of how good he is, Bowers’ surprise injury news has upset a lot of fans with how it was all handled.
Did Klint Kubiak Lie?
It sure seems like Kubiak decided to not tell the truth about Bowers’ injury.
There are a lot of people up in arms for the way that such a move can impact gambling and fantasy football, and while other fans will scoff at that, it is true.
Gambling is the main reason the NFL has its injury reports in the first place. The league wants everything to be above board.
That also might be the silliest part of Kubiak taking this approach. The Raiders’ first injury report of the week was going to come out a handful of hours after he gave that press conference, and it would get an update on Thursday and another on Friday. Given the punishment for teams misleading on the official injury report, they would’ve had the truthful information about Bowers on there.
Kubiak gained almost nothing by failing to reveal at least something about Bowers’ ailment.
As far as the Week 1 matchup with the Dolphins is concerned, maybe Miami spent a few more hours scheming about Bowers, and maybe that will feel like it was a waste of time — but the reality is that they were going to find out sooner rather than later anyway, which makes the whole thing feel like an odd charade from the Raiders.
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Billy Heyen Billy Heyen is a Heavy contributor with focus on the NFL and MLB. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who spent his senior year following Jim Boeheim's basketball team around the country. His reporting work has also included extensive work for The Sporting News, the Sandusky Register and Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle. Adventures in sports writing have also led to in-person coverage of the Buffalo Sabres, Cleveland Guardians, U.S. men's national soccer team and a variety of minor league baseball stories. More about Billy Heyen
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