Dwayne Bowe is now a former Kansas City Chief, and that’s going to take some getting used to. The only NFL team Bowe has known in his eight NFL seasons released him today.
Chiefs fans are accustomed to expecting 70-plus catches and more than 1,000 yards a year from Bowe, even though he hasn’t reached those numbers for some time.
Suddenly, the Chiefs are starting over at wide receiver. Jeremy Maclin is in. Others soon will be. Bowe, Donnie Avery and A.J. Jenkins are gone.
In truth, the Bowe news is late in coming. This move is that long overdue.
It’s time, past time really, for the Chiefs to move on. Bowe hasn’t caught more than 60 passes or had more than 801 yards for three years now. Last year, he was held without a touchdown for the first time in his career. He’ll be 31 in September, so the 2015 season would be an unusual time of his life for him to bounce back and become the player he once was.
And how about Bowe? Shouldn’t he feel liberated, too? Here are the quarterbacks he played with in his time in Kansas City: Damon Huard, Brodie Croyle, Tyler Thigpen, Matt Cassel, Tyler Palko, Kyle Orton, Brady Quinn, Alex Smith and Chase Daniel.
What could he have accomplished playing with a better set of passers? We’ll never know, but it’s entirely possible that at least he’ll have a better chance to have a big season in 2015 playing with another team and another quarterback.
Bowe’s targets took a serious hit when quarterback Smith was traded from the 49ers before the 2013 season. From 2010-12, Bowe ranked sixth among 72 qualified receivers in target percentage (targets/routes) at 28.0 percent. From 2013-14, Bowe was targeted on 20.6 percent of his routes (44th out of 74 qualified wide receivers), according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Bowe finishes his Chiefs career second in franchise history in pass receptions (532) and third in receiving yards (7,155). If you take away a tight end, Tony Gonzalez, Bowe is arguably the best pass-catcher in Chiefs history.
He hasn’t played like that for a few years now, but it was still a good gamble for the Chiefs to sign him to a five-year, $56 million contract. Bowe never played up to that deal, which doesn’t mean it was a bad signing. It means it didn’t work out as planned.
If the Chiefs made a mistake with Bowe, it’s that they didn’t get started on the process to replace him last year. They could have drafted Florida State’s Kelvin Benjamin in the first round and now had him installed and ready to go alongside Maclin, who cost a hefty $55 million over five years.
Instead, they put too much faith in Bowe’s ability to bounce back, and now they’re starting over at an important position.
Still, the Chiefs would make a bad situation worse by continuing on with Bowe. Good for them when they choose to end it.
Better late than never.