1 Reason Raiders' Offense Is Deeper Than Many Realize

Kelly's arrival, as well as the arrival of Geno Smith stand to only make Bowers even better. However, there were other additions the Raiders made that could directly or indirectly take some of the load off of Bowers.

Las Vegas still has a talented tight end in Michael Mayer. Carroll believes so much in Mayer he refuses to call him a No. 2 tight end. Yet, the Raiders' depth at tight end goes even further than Bowers and Mayer.

The Raiders added veteran tight end Ian Thomas over the offseason. After a solid training camp, he appears ready to make an impact. Following practice this week, Raiders Head Coach Pete Carroll noted that the roster is much deeper at tight end than just Bowers and Mayer.

"Well, let me take you a little bit of a different place here, that Ian Thomas has done great with us. He's been on point, just in particular and just in this particular position. If Ian [Thomas] plays in the game, he's going to do really well, just as Mike [Michael Mayer] has done really well throughout. Mike has had a great camp with us,” Carroll said. 

"He had a great offseason with us, and has done everything we could hope that he could do, and he can play the number one tight end, Y and move around at the other positions, as well as can Ian and as we prepared Brock [Bowers] to do a little bit of everything. Those guys cover for each other."

"So it's a very solid group, and just in general, we have been healthy, fortunately, throughout, so all of our guys have worked the kind of workload that it takes to be able to prepare to play. So I feel very good in that regard, across the board. But if you get hit in the position, and you get hit in a position, then it gets difficult no matter who you are or where you are."