New York Giants: Dwayne Bowe Not The Answer
Wednesday it was learned that wide receiver Dwayne Bowe was officially released by the Cleveland Browns, per Sean Wagner-McGough of cbssports.com.
Bowe was a lighting rod for criticism while in Cleveland this past season: the receiver was often a healthy scratch from Sunday’s lineup for the Browns, as he managed to only catch 5 passes all season. As was mentioned in Wagner-McGough’s article, Bowe made 9 million last year, or 1.8 million per reception. It was obviously a bad year for him in terms of productivity and impact.
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For the New York Giants, Bowe can’t be an option just because they have a glaring hole at receiver. He clearly isn’t the same guy that caught 72 passes for 1100+ yards and 15 TD’s in Kansas City back in 2010.
Sure, the Giants are running out of free agent receiving options at this point and will likely need to grab another young pass catcher in the upcoming draft. But just because a team is desperate for an answer at a key position doesn’t mean they should waste any money on someone who hasn’t produced in a while.
And it wasn’t just a problem for Bowe in Cleveland; he hasn’t caught a TD since 2013 despite playing in 15 games in 2014 for the Chiefs.
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Bowe was quite the player several years ago; a large, physical specimen that wasn’t afraid of contact and could separate from defenders. While still very durable, as he hasn’t missed many games in his career due to injury, he apparently wasn’t good enough to suit up for the Browns during most of the 2015 season.
Even though Cleveland had already lost a bevy of players in free agency this off-season, including young stud wide receiver Travis Benjamin, the Browns weren’t even interested in re-negotiating Bowes contract. Instead, they cut him to avoid a 6.15 million dollar payout.
The Giants still have a lot of money to play with, and some might argue that bringing Bowe in at the veteran’s minimum is a small gamble that could pay off big time if McAdoo and Manning can make Bowe look anything like he did in Kansas City. But something tells me Bowe had some issues keeping the Browns from suiting him up; paying a guy 9 million to hang out in a track suit generally makes no sense.
The last thing New York needs is to bring in a guy that can’t at least perform at the same level as the guy they just let walk: Rueben Randle. Bowe is 31 now and will be 32 at the start of next season. All of the Giants free agent signings this off-season have been younger guys coming off of decent or big seasons and still either in their prime or coming into it. Dwayne Bowe doesn’t match any of those traits.
The reality is that the GMEN would be much better off either picking a young and inexperienced player in the first three rounds of the draft to fill their pass catching needs instead of signing Bowe and watching him underperform again. GM Jerry Reese can’t and hopefully won’t fall in love with Bowe’s past, thinking it will repeat with the right talent around him.
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Dwayne Bowe still has a chance to play in the NFL under the right circumstances. He just isn’t the answer for the New York Giants and their search for a #2 guy behind Odell Beckham Jr.