Jalen Nailor — Week 3: Three Targets, One Catch for Sixteen
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Nailor caught one of three targets, a 16-yard conversion on third and three on the Raiders' first drive, and his other two targets fell incomplete in the second quarter. All three came before halftime, on a day Brock Bowers returned and took 13 targets, in a 35–27 win over the Saints.
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Nothing to nothing, 12 59 left in the first quarter, third and three at the Las Vegas 31 on the Raiders' first possession. Kirk Cousins threw short right to Jalen Nailor, 14 yards in the air, and Nailor was tackled at the Las Vegas 47 after 16. +2.0 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position. The drive reached the Saints 17 and ended in a 41-yard field goal.
The line: three targets, one catch, 16 yards, one first down, +1.3 expected points on the targets. The other two fell incomplete: short right on first and 10 at the Saints 21 with seven 28 left in the second quarter, on the drive that ended in Michael Mayer's touchdown, and deep middle on second and eight from the Las Vegas 37 with a minute 15 left in the half. Brock Bowers converted the third down on the next snap. All three targets came before halftime; after it, Cousins threw 11 more times and none went to Nailor.
Three targets were three of the 30 Raiders throws that had a receiver. Bowers, in his first game of the season, had 13, Tre Tucker four, and Nailor, Cody White, Ashton Jeanty and Mayer three each.
Back in June the preview called Nailor a watchlist — expectations a full tier above a résumé of 444 yards as Minnesota's fourth target, built on 23 million guaranteed and a quarterback who asked for him — and named five-plus targets a game as the number that would move it. Week 1 landed on the line exactly: five targets, three catches, 27 yards. Week 2 was three targets and nine yards. Sunday was three again, on the day Bowers came back. Three games, 11 targets, five catches, 52 yards, under the line in two of the three. The receiver room with Bowers in it is one game old, and this was its first look. Las Vegas is home to the Chiefs on Sunday the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
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