Week 12 power rankings roundup: Raiders’ rookie Brock Bowers getting major love; team isn’t though

Record-setting tight end one of the true bright spots as Las Vegas inhabits bottom of several rankings

Brock to the Future. That’s the best way to sum up the national power rankings that feature the Las Vegas Raiders.

Brock Bowers, the No. 13 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, is getting major love across the board as the tight end is one of the true bright spots for a moribund franchise. He’s setting franchise and league records and is arguably the lone productive and reliable weapon in Scott Turner’s offense.

The Raiders overall, however, are not getting much love. The team is at the bottom of several NFL power rankings as it’s become Silver & Bleak season.

So let’s take a look at the Week 12 rankings as the Raiders embark in their preparation for a matchup with AFC West foe Denver Broncos.

The Ringer

32. Las Vegas Raiders

Last week: 32

Knowing the way things tend to work for the league’s major awards, there’s no real chance a tight end wins this honor in a year where rookie quarterbacks have owned so much real estate with the national media. But if we’re comparing the level of play and impact relative to position and one’s peers, I don’t know if any rookie is having a better year than Brock Bowers. He’s currently 10th among all pass catchers in receiving yards and has more yards after the catch than wide receivers like Zay Flowers, CeeDee Lamb, and Deebo Samuel. Bowers is effectively the no. 1 receiver in Las Vegas’s offense, and he’s dynamic enough to be an engine for this team. Bowers deserves your eyeballs down the stretch, and it’d be nice if Las Vegas builds something around him in the coming years.

The Ringer is correct: In a quarterback-driven league, a rookie signal caller is likely to get rookie of the year nods. But that isn’t to say Bowers isn’t deserving. He impacts the Raiders as much as a quarterback can as he’s able to torch a variety of defenders and runs routes like a wide receiver and not a traditional tight end. Bowers is so productive with bootstraps of quarterbacks Las Vegas deploys that it merits this notion: If the Georgia tight end can produce with suspect signal callers, imagine what he can do with a decent quarterback.

NFL.com

31. Las Vegas Raiders

Last week: 31

The Raiders have lost six straight, with their next four games coming against teams still very much in the playoff race. Although they kept close with Miami well into the second half, the Raiders’ defense imploded in the final 20-plus minutes, and the offense couldn’t keep pace. This was the first game with Scott Turner running the offense, and the results were not that bad. Brock Bowers was fed properly, totaling career highs in catches (13) and yards (126) and catching his third TD of the season. That and some more creative play-calling made the game interesting for a bit, at least by Raiders’ standards this season. But there’s really only so much to be encouraged about in the big picture, with a slew of tough opponents left, until they can show they’re capable of an upset like the one they pulled at Arrowhead Stadium last year on Christmas Day.

Turner did well to put Bowers at a variety of spots in the various alignments he deployed in his first game as interim offensive coordinator. But without a productive run game, Las Vegas’ offense is going to be severely one-sided in terms of passing vs. rushing. The Raiders could very well upset teams, but Raider Nation is right to be upset by the product they’ve seen from their beloved football team.

Bleacher Report

27. Las Vegas Raiders

Last week: 25

The Raiders probably won’t win more than four games this season, but they have a building block for the future in Bowers, who has been arguably the most impressive rookie thus far. Last week, Bowers broke the NFL record for most receptions (13) by a rookie tight end in a single game (h/t ESPN’s Field Yates). He also leads the 2024 draft class in receptions (70). The Raiders are one of the league’s worst teams, but at least they have one of the NFL’s best tight ends. —Moe Moton

Bleacher Report has been the kindest to Las Vegas in terms of rankings. But Moton summed it up best: The Raiders are one of the worst teams that happens to deploy one of the league’s top tight ends. How the Raiders solve the quarterback conundrum will go a long way into determining Bowers’ future production and importance.

The Athletic

29. Las Vegas Raiders

Last week: 26

Seat temperature check: Hot

Antonio Pierce is 7-12 in two seasons after the Raiders got blown out by Miami on Sunday. They have bounced back and forth between quarterbacks all year long and never felt like a threat in the AFC West or anywhere else. Jakobi Meyers was Las Vegas’ leading rusher Sunday with one carry for 20 yards. At least there’s Brock Bowers, who had 13 catches for 126 yards against the Dolphins. With new minority owner Tom Brady in the building, it seems unlikely majority owner Mark Davis will stand pat with Pierce as head coach.

The incoming Brady dynamic is going to be one to watch in the desert in terms of just how much sway Tom Terrific has with Davis. But the last line in the ranking description is also intriguing: Will Davis once again move on from yet another head coach? If the blowouts keep on stacking, it’s difficult to see Pierce remain, though. Tanking aside.

ESPN

32. Las Vegas Raiders

Last week: 32

Current temperature of hot seat: Burnt

The Adams saga — which included social media clues, paid appearances in which Adams claimed he was not the instigator in any of the drama and a hamstring injury — came to a merciful end with his forced trade to the Jets on Oct. 15. Ironically, Tom Brady was confirmed as a Raiders minority owner on that same day. As Raiders owner Mark Davis joked, “We traded Davante Adams for Tom Brady and a third-round pick today.” From the fans’ perspective, no player in Raiders history had gone from so revered to so reviled in such a short amount of time. —Paul Gutierrez

I cannot tell a lie: I’m cackling over Gutierrez noting the hot seat is burnt. That’s an accurate assessment at this point as the Raiders keep getting shellacked gamedays. From all the drama, the injuries that’ve depleted the roster, and getting arguably the worst quarterback play of all teams this season, Las Vegas rolled snake eyes in 2024. Outside of Bowers, of course.