GRETZ: Still Waiting For Bowe
GRETZ: Still Waiting For Bowe
Aug 03, 2007, 6:19:05 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ
RIVER FALLS, WI – Sometimes you just can’t win.
As the Chiefs sat in their draft war room this past April, considering their options with the 23rd choice in the first round, they zeroed in on wide receiver Dwayne Bowe.
They liked so much about him, especially what he did on the field at LSU. There was really only one negative: his agent.
Or, in this case his agents. The firm representing Bowe has three partners, headed up by a fellow named Ethan Lock.
The Chiefs have a history with Lock. He was the agent for John Tait and he got into a shouting match with Carl Peterson some years back. Lock and his partners are not quick to do deals with draft choices. They never have been. They like others to establish the floor and ceiling before they’ll get into serious negotiations. In the business they are known as foot draggers.
This was very well known to the Chiefs as their allotted 15 minutes in the first round ticked away.
Still, they went ahead and drafted Bowe. Despite the problems they knew would come, they made the right football decision. A player like Bowe is just what the Chiefs needed on their roster, not only now, but in the future.
And now, they are suffering with the rest of the story. Bowe has missed the first week of training camp here in the north woods. He’s down in Atlanta with his former LSU teammate DeMarcus Russell, who as the No. 1 choice is also without a contract and is also represented by Lock and his firm.
Bowe has missed in the neighborhood of 150 to 200 practice snaps. He’s missed more time working on timing with quarterbacks Damon Huard and Brodie Croyle. He’s missed seven days of learning more about the playbook and the Chiefs offense.
It sounds like he’s going to miss even more. There’s been little progress in negotiations with Lock and his partners. The Chiefs communicate with them on almost a daily basis and basically end up back at the same place every time.
The Chiefs have made offers that exceed the overall percentage increase of the rest of the first round in both total money and guaranteed money. Still, that’s not good enough and those offers have been rejected by Bowe’s people.
What are they waiting for? What’s their motivation?
It’s fear. Bowe’s agents are afraid to make a commitment on a contract because 22nd pick Brady Quinn remains unsigned. Cleveland and the former Notre Dame quarterback are having trouble coming to an agreement. Quinn and his agent Tom Condon want a deal that exceeds what the 22nd pick would normally get because Quinn is a quarterback.
So they won’t make a move to finalize a deal with Bowe until they know what the ceiling is ahead of them. They already know what the floor is behind them at the No. 24 pick.
Lock and his crew are not trendsetters; they are followers. They basically allow other people to do their work, and then come in at the end when the outcome is obvious. That way, they either get the slotted figure, or they get something more and that makes them look better.
None of this has anything to do with their client. It’s all about their next clients, it’s all about their standing among the other agents who service draft choices. It’s a strange way to do business, climbing on the back of players who have signed on with you in hopes of impressing potential clients.
All this does is hurt Bowe. He’s missing valuable time. It’s not something he couldn’t overcome if he showed up by this weekend.
But if he remains out a week from now, there starts to be a problem. Bowe pulled a hamstring during the off-season program and his conditioning suffered. When the Chiefs shutdown operations near the end of June, he was out of shape and overweight. He may be working out with Russell down in Atlanta, but there’s little chance they are putting in the kind of work and hours they would if they were in a camp.
If the NFL re-opens its collective bargaining agreement next year with the players association, and there seems a good chance they will, the league needs to push hard for defined rookie salary scale, much like the NBA.
With that in place, Dwayne Bowe would be here in the north woods running routes against the Vikings this weekend instead of chasing down passes from the next Raiders quarterback.
Thanks for all the yards, TDs, and memories, Priest!
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