Team news: Las Vegas Raiders | Page 3

No practice for a second straight day for Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, who has been battling a knee injury.

Related Players: Ian Thomas

What started as a potential "rest day" looks to be a little more serious now. Ian Thomas can be left out of streaming consideration, even if the sophomore misses Week 5.

Raiders TE Brock Bowers, who was a limited practice participant Wednesday due to a knee injury, didn’t practice today.

Related Players: Ian Thomas

Hopefully this was more of a rest day, but Bowers has been dealing with this issue for a few weeks now. Ian Thomas can be left out of streaming consideration, even if the sophomore misses Week 5.

In the first two weeks of the season, Jaguars No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter played more offensive snaps than defensive snaps.

That trend flipped in Jacksonville’s Week 3 victory over Houston.

Hunter was on the field for 37 offensive snaps (53 percent) and 43 defensive snaps (68 percent).

Related players: Brian Thomas Jr., Dyami Brown, Parker Washington

He’s now played 59 percent of Jacksonville’s offensive snaps this year and 47 percent of defensive snaps, plus four percent of special teams snaps, the story said. But the more concerning news is his usage. He had one pass for 21 yards on two targets in Week 3. He had eight targets in Week 2. Hunter has 10 receptions for 76 yards, with only two of his catches resulting in first downs this season. He's now a huge question mark for fantasy lineups heading into Week 4.

Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr. (wrist) is off the injury report and good to go Sunday.

Meanwhile, Texans WRs Christian Kirk (hamstring) and Braxton Berrios (hamstring) are both off the injury report and set to make their season debuts.

Related Players: Travis Hunter, Dyami Brown, Nico Collins, Xavier Hutchinson, Jayden Higgins

Brian Thomas should continue to be slotted in as a fringe WR1/2 play, with Christian Kirk is much further down the list as a WR4/5 as the ball continues to be spread around behind Collins.

Pete Carroll was also asked about Ashton Jeanty's slow start to the season and the Raiders' run game woes. He preached patience with the young back, while also noting they need to find ways to get him the ball more often, via the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"We're just getting started (with Jeanty)," Carroll said. "He's breaking into the NFL. He's figuring it out. He'll get more carries. We have to run the ball more effectively. We only got (68 yards), and that's not enough. We need more than that. We're bringing him along. More will come."

The story said Jeanty took blame for the slow start in both Week 1 and on Monday night, saying he could have broken off bigger plays. But the story points out the Raiders offensive line could be at fault too. The line continues to struggle and the holes just aren't there. The Raiders are now 31st in rushing yards and yards per carry - only ahead of the Bengals. The good news is the team wants to get Jeanty even more involved, so owners may need to stay patient with their young back.

Jaguars WR Brian Thomas had an NFL-worst -9.1 receiving EPA yesterday. Next closest player in Week 2 was at -6.8.

Previous career low for BTJ was -5.5. Pretty easily worst game of his career

There have been reports out Monday that BTJ is dealing with a wrist injury as well, although Shipley didn't get into that aspect. The wrist injury also wasn't on the injury report. Shipley did say BTJ's third worst game of his career was in Week 1 of this season against the Panthers, so that's maybe the bigger concern for owners. Shipley added that Thomas Jr. and QB Trevor Lawrence are not only not on the same page, they're not even in the same book, and it dates back to training camp. He feels that issue carried over into Week 1. BTJ's possible wrist injury will be something to monitor this week. It's a potentially tough matchup against the Texans defense in Week 3 for the Jags.

Raiders tight end Brock Bowers returned to practice Saturday after missing Thursday and Friday.

Bowers was recovering from the knee injury he suffered in the season-opening win over the Patriots. Perhaps the Raiders were just resting him. He told the media after the game his knee was fine. With Bowers practicing Saturday, his chances now bode pretty well that he’ll be available for Vegas (and his fantasy owners) Monday night against the Chargers. Bowers is TE5 entering Sunday with Tucker Kraft having already played.

Raiders TE Brock Bowers (knee) and LB Elandon Roberts (elbow) are not practicing. They are observing the stretch period without a helmet.

Injury report will come out later this afternoon.

Related Players: Michael Mayer

While Mayer certainly wouldn't be a slam-dunk play if Bowers misses Week 2, he does make for an interesting streamer in leagues where there aren't a ton of options. The tight end ran only 16 routes, but did account for four of Geno Smith's 33 pass attempts with Bowers playing most of Week 1. Bowers should be jammed anywhere we have him if he suits up.

TE Brock Bowers, who exited Sunday's game with a knee injury and didn't return, is considered day to day, per Carroll.

Related players: Michael Mayer

Fantasy owners held their collective breaths when Bowers left Week 1's game with what appeared to be a non-contact knee injury. Some pointed to hits he took to the knee on previous plays, however. Later, reports surfaced that Bowers would be fine. We may not know more until the injury report comes out on Wednesday. The bad news is, the Raiders don't play until Monday night's later game, so owners may want to have a backup plan in place - just in case Bowers becomes a game-time decision.

Raiders TE Brock Bowers told NFL Insider Tom Pelissero his knee is fine and there are no concerns moving forward.

A sigh of relief for the Raiders and Bowers’ fantasy owners. Bowers started his second NFL season in a very nice way with 103 yards on five catches as the Raiders scored the Week 1 win in New England. Bowers sounds like he’ll be ready to go for the Raiders’ home opener next Monday night against the Chargers.