Is Brock Bowers playing today? Injury update, fantasy advice for Week 2

The Las Vegas Raiders were hoping to get tight end Brock Bowers back for the Week 2 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

However, Bowers, who is dealing with a knee injury, was only able to log a limited practice on Friday before drawing a doubtful tag the same day.

Here's what we know about his chances of suiting up on Sunday afternoon.

Is Brock Bowers playing today?

While he has not been officially ruled out by the team, players rarely overcome the doubtful tag, which means Bowers is almost certain to sit out.

Head coach Klint Kubiak did say, however, that Bowers would test out his knee pregame before a final decision would be made, according to The Athletic's Sam Warren, so there's still a chance.

Kubiak added that if Bowers doesn't go this week, he's optimistic the Raiders tight end will play in Week 3, which jives with the initial timeline that was given for Bowers' return.

Brock Bowers fantasy advice

If Bowers was questionable, we would say roll the dice and wait for the 4 p.m. inactives to drop to see if Bowers plays and go from there.

But because he's on the doubtful tag, Bowers is very unlikely to play, so you can justify removing him from the lineup for a player in the earlier window.

Have we seen players beat the doubtful tag? Sure, but it's extremely rare and we just don't see that happening in this instance.

The Raiders are going to play it safe with one of their best players and franchise cornerstones. We do expect him to play next week, though.

As far as a replacement on the Raiders' roster goes, Michael Mayer is a viable TE2 play in Week 2 after posting six catches for 32 yards last week.

The Raiders don't have a good pass-catcher situation, so Mayer has an opportunity to produce quality numbers until Bowers returns.