Dwayne Bowe signed a big deal with the Cleveland Browns this offseason to come in and be their go-to-guy but that hasn't happened yet in his first two games. Bowe has seen playing time in just one game so far and has been given just one target and the Browns claim that it is because he is still not 100 percent healthy, according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.
The deal Bowe signed this offseason was for two years, $12.5 million with $9 million of that guaranteed. Bowe is being paid like a guy that the Browns expect to produce like one of their top receivers but that has just not been the case. Bowe is reportedly dealing with a hamstring injury but he is not on the injury report for this weeks game so he must be healthy enough to play.
Browns offensive coordinator John DeFilippo seems to think that Bowe is still not 100 percent which is why he isn't producing like they had hoped but he thinks that he will get there. The reality of the situation seems to be that Bowe has just been passed on the depth chart by more productive receivers.
Travis Benjamin has been the go-to-guy in the passing game and Brian Hartlne, Taylor Gabriel and Andrew Hawkins are all ahead of Bowe on the depth chart at this point so he will have to prove that not only is he healthy but that he could be productive in order to move his way back up.
Bowe is now 31 years old and in his ninth year in the NFL. The first eight years of Bowe's career were spent with the Kansas City Chiefs and he had a solid eight year run there where he even led the NFL wth 15 touchdowns in 2010. In more recent years though Bowe's production has gone way down and maybe the Browns should have seen this coming before they gave him $9 million guaranteed.
In his last season as a Chief Bowe caught zero touchdown passes and only had 750 receiving yards so maybe the mileage is starting to catch up to him. The Browns are stuck with Bowe at this point after giving him that money but at least they aren't putting him on the field because of that. Bowe should not be expected to have much of a role going forward in Cleveland as he is clearly not one of their better receivers right now.