Chiefs' Bowe says problems are behind him

Things happen for a reason, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe said Monday during a stop in Sioux Falls.

And he's thankful for that.

The 2007 first-round draft pick, who appeared at the Legends celebrity football camp at Augustana, has 203 catches for 2,606 yards in three years in the NFL. But he's coming off a season that started slow and got worse.

"I'm glad it's over now," he said, summarizing 2009. "I'm glad I'm on a new page in my career."

A four-week suspension for testing positive for a banned substance was the highlight of the lowlights for Bowe, who caught 47 balls for 589 yards in nine games - roughly half the production he had in 2008.

"It's going to give me a chance to remodel my career," said Bowe, a 6-2, 220-pound LSU alum whose physical ability at receiver is distinctive even by NFL standards. "I'm bigger, faster and stronger now - and I did it the right way. I really think it is going to end up saving my career."

Bowe was out of shape going into training camp last year for first-year coach Todd Haley and never quite caught up to where he'd been. He was scrutinized by a variety of critics, none more pointed than Haley.

But an offseason of communication and hard work has made the situation appear brighter than it did six months ago.

"He wants to be a top receiver, and now it's going to be up to him," Haley told the Kansas City Star this spring. "This offseason is going to start, and (Bowe must) put everything into it to be a top receiver. I do think understanding what's expected is a big item for Dwayne Bowe."

This year will be different, Bowe says. Former Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis, a highly respected offensive guru with New England before failing with the Fighting Irish, is the Chiefs' new offensive coordinator.

Kansas City starting quarterback Matt Cassel is a former Patriot who thrived in a Weis-designed offense at New England before being traded to the Chiefs.

"Charlie Weis is dangerous," Bowe said. "The whole mini-camp and the OTAs, the offense has been clicking like crazy. Matt Cassell is doing well and the draft choices are looking great - I can't wait for the season to start."

During one part of Bowe's appearance, he was talking to 8- and 9-year-olds just starting out in football. Ironically, Bowe didn't know anything about the sport himself at that age. He didn't even try out for football until his junior year of high school.

"I was responsible for raising my little cousin a lot of the time," he said. "My grandma was raising me and she was getting older. I'd pick him up from school and watch him in his own extracurricular activities, but then he got old enough so that he didn't need someone watching over him.

"I was going to school being the class clown at the time. Then the football coach came up to me and told me I was big, tall and fast, and it was time to start making something of myself."

He did that, first with four increasingly productive years at LSU, followed by signing a five-year, $9 million deal with the Chiefs. Monday, on a humid day that must have felt comforting to a Miami native, Bowe told the campers that it's not all about football all the time.

"There are guys in high school who don't take football very serious," he said. "They want to be a jock and get all the girls and that's enough.

"As I've progressed and grown in this game, I realize for high school kids it's not all about just putting the pads on. It's about unity and being part of a team and doing your work."

He also had some advice for the older folks in his vicinity at Kirkeby-Over Stadium.

"Take D-Bowe in your fantasy league," he said, laughing. "I guarantee I won't let you down."