The five-year, $56 million contract extension was supposed to bring Kansas City Chiefs receiver Dwayne Bowe some sense of security. Instead, it seems to have made him paranoid.
Bowe, 29, got the money he was looking for last offseason and was able to remain in Kansas City, Mo., where he’s made his home during his seven seasons in the NFL. However, this season turned out to be one of the worst of Bowe’s career, even if he won’t accept responsibility for it.
“Everybody’s aiming for you and waiting on you to get into trouble,” Bowe said in an interview wit WHB 810 in Kansas City, per ESPN.com. “People try to persuade you to do things to get you [in trouble]. That’s the only bad thing once you sign. The world wants you to fail. That’s the hard part about it. When you sign that [contract] … you’ve got to live right. That’s the hard part. You’re trying to live right and the police [are] after you, everybody wants a piece of Dwayne Bowe and I had to learn that the hard way. That’s how it is.”
The star receiver didn’t live up to his lofty status or salary in his first season under the new deal, catching 57 passes for 673 yards, five touchdowns and just 11.8 yards per reception (the lowest of his career). While some of the production drop off may be due to Andy Reid‘s run-heavy offense, his actions off the field didn’t do anything to help his cause either.
Bowe was arrested by Kansas City police in early November, during the Chiefs’ bye week, for marijuana possession, which the receiver claims to be a classic case of profiling.
“It’s not them, it’s everybody,” Bowe said of the police. “When you’re in a town where there’s not a whole lot going on, bad media is good media. You’ve just got to stay calm and stay collected like I [am] now and just move in silence.
“The people close around me and my team and the organization know I had nothing to do with that,” Bowe said. “I was being profiled. It will all come to light in February. It wasn’t a distraction because my teammates know and my family knows. I was being watched and being followed.”
Innocent or not, Bowe’s play on the field still must be a concern for the Chiefs, who already forked over a $15 million signing bonus and are slated to pay Bowe $8.75 million next season.
If he isn’t able to live up to the big expectations in 2014, Bowe may have a lot more to paranoid about.
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