Dwayne Bowe Says He Wants To Stay A Chief

Oct 9, 2011; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe (82) celebrates his touchdown catch in the end zone against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Kansas City defeated Indianapolis 28-24. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

I’ll be honest with you, my fellow Chiefs fans: I was racking my brain trying to come up with a third positive post to do this evening. I decided that after days of complaining about what is wrong with this team I wanted to keep it positive today. I started with a post about the talent still on this roster, followed with a post about how good the videos put out by 65 TPT Productions are, and now I can finish the day off with some good news regarding Dwayne Bowe.

Adam Teicher of the Kansas City Star has a must-read article up this evening for anyone who is concerned about the Chiefs resigning their top receiver. Last month Yahoo’s Jason Cole was asked by a Miami radio station if he thought the Dolphins might try to trade for Bowe before the trade deadline. He said (I’m paraphrasing) that it was possible. This was misreported by some that Cole was saying that the Dolphins and the Chiefs were trying to negotiate a deal. He later took to Twitter to clarify that he didn’t know anything about them working on a deal, just that it would make sense if they were. He then Tweeted this:

"I can report this: Bowe wants out of KC very badly. Not exactly a revelation, but true."

I’ll be completely honest; I’ve been operating under the assumption that Bowe is as good as gone after this season. Here’s my reasoning. The Chiefs couldn’t come to a long term deal this last offseason and its hard to imagine that either side is going to move significantly after this season is over. Given Bowe’s tendency for drops, showboating, and occasional knuckleheadedness it’s hard to imagine the Chiefs tagging him a second time and paying him well over $10 million for a single season (although they will need to spend up to the spending floor next year, so that might not be an issue). I also believe that if Bowe hits free agency that someone will offer him a silly amount of money that KC won’t match (see: Carr, Brandon). Finally, my thinking has been that Bowe would want no part of staying in KC. Why should he take less money to stay with a run first team with no quarterback that’s in a small market and doesn’t like his attention seeking “Bowe Show” ways? I’ve always seen him taking big money in a big market if he had the chance. The fact that the Chiefs are also TERRIBLE this season doesn’t help matters either.

That was a very long way of saying that I didn’t think Bowe would resign with KC.

That all having been said, Teicher’s article today caught me by surprise. Even when I saw the headline I was expecting the typical “I love KC, I’d like to work something out, we’ll see what happens after the season” line that most soon to be free agents spout out (probably at their agent’s urging). Everyone should go to the Star’s website and read it for yourself. Bowe doesn’t just claim he wants to stay, he emphatically denies the reports that he wants to leave. Check out some of these quotes.

"“I never said I didn’t want to be here. I never said that. This is where it started for me. This is where people know me from. That’s crazy to me.”"

"“When I heard that, I was like, ‘Where did that come from?’ I never said I wanted out. Please clear that up for me.”"

"“I play the game to win. That’s what I do week in and week out. I feel we can do that here, of course. Things happen, and it won’t be easy, but I try to show (that spirit) and it will become contagious. You’ll see it. It’s coming.”"

That’s not your garden variety PC/PR prewritten by an agent quote. What’s more, Bowe is usually a guy with no filter. He just says what he’s feeling or thinks and it has gotten him in trouble before. That’s why this report surprised me. I have a hard time believing that Bowe suddenly became a PR wizard and dropped these denials to win over public opinion. I believe the guy, and this is coming from someone that woke up this morning thinking that there was a 0% chance that Bowe would stay in KC.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Bowe and the Chiefs will work something out. Bowe may still want a big, fat, Vincent Jackson-esqe, multi-year deal that the Chiefs just may not think he is worth. I still can’t see Bowe giving KC a big hometown discount if his agent thinks he can hit the lottery on the open market. However, I’m encouraged that Bowe seems to want to stay assuming the Chiefs will pay him. That at least ups the odds of him returning some.

For now, that’s about the best you can ask for.