Has Dwayne Bowe Taken His Last Snap As A Chief?

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

The bad news just keeps coming for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that the Chiefs fear WR Dwayne Bowe may have as many as two broken ribs.

Bowe took a knee to the back from a Browns player yesterday while blocking on a running play. Bowe did not return and the KC offense struggled mightily in his absence.

If the ribs are indeed broken then Bowe could miss as many as three weeks, which would mean his season is over.

With the season lost there is no reason for the Chiefs to rush Bowe back to action. If it looks as though he won’t be fully healed in time to play another game, the star WR will likely be placed in injured reserve.

And that could mean Bowe’s time in Kansas City is over.

Bowe is currently playing on a one-year contract. Once the 2012 league year ends, unless he signs a new deal or the team franchises him for the second time, Bowe will become a free agent.

Luckily for Chiefs fans, Bowe’s fate will like be decided by someone other than current GM Scott Pioli. The team is a disaster and there is probably a pretty good chance Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt will decide to move on and hire a new GM. If that happens, it will likely be right after the season ends which would give Pioli’s replacement plenty of time to decide what he wants to do with Bowe.

While the new regime will have no ties to Bowe, I’m not so sure they would let him go. The Chiefs have plenty of cap space and very well could be drafting a rookie QB in this year’s draft. The new front office will likely want a talented veteran target for their young QB and so might put a high priority on retaining Bowe’s services. Even if the team and Bowe can’t agree on a long-term deal, the Chiefs still control Bowe’s rights. They can use the franchise tag on him one more time, locking him in for the 2013 season.

Still, there are no guarantees. A lot is going to happen with the Chiefs over the next eight weeks or so and there is a chance that Dwayne Bowe has played his last game as a Chief.