Dwayne Bowe recently signed a one day contract to retire with the Chiefs. How should fans remember him based off the quarterbacks he played with?
Dwayne Bowe played with eight quarterbacks during his time with the Kansas City Chiefs, but most of them were below average. Consequently, he is a story of what could have been. At 6’4″, 220 pounds, he was a big-bodied athlete that had a penchant for broken tackles.
The Chiefs’ went a collective 49-79 during his time with the team. Despite the horrible record during his tenure, Bowe put together a string of highly-productive seasons.
The list of Bowe’s accomplishments is actually pretty long. In his eight year career with the Chiefs, he caught 532 passes, amassed 7,155 yards receiving, and had 44 receiving touchdowns. Currently, he only trails Otis Taylor and Tony Gonzalez in career receiving marks for the franchise.
The highlight of his career was the 2010 season where he led the league in touchdowns with 15, on top of catching 72 passes for 1,162 yards. He was considered one of the best receivers that year and was named second-team All Pro.
Surprisingly, Bowe doesn’t have the greatest reputation amongst Chiefs’ fans any longer. There’s likely a couple reasons for this, but I think it mainly stems from Bowe’s lackadaisical nature once Andy Reid came to town.
Right off the bat John Dorsey gave Bowe a major contract, and Bowe was finally a part of a stable organization. He even went so far as to talk trash during the 2013 offseason, claiming he’d lead the league in receiving. But once the season started, it looked like he didn’t care. All the good karma he built up from prior years vanished pretty quickly. He was a productive receiver, yes, who also dropped some memorable passes and had a questionable work ethic. There’s also that suspension for marijuana possession.
Not to make excuses for Bowe, but he wasn’t exactly given the best shake either. Bowe was the unfortunate victim of a string of poor to average quarterbacks. Say what you will about the negatives, but it’s still hard to not be impressed with how productive he was on such poor teams with such pitiful passers.
Need a reminder? Let’s look back at eight quarterbacks who Bowe caught passes from—starting at the beginning of his career through the end.