On Thursday, former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe became the third former Chiefs player to sign a one-day contract and formally retire from the team (and the NFL) in as many weeks.
Early on Sunday morning, TMZ.com released a video interview with Bowe that was recorded on Friday. Released under the headline Chiefs ‘Pulling For’ Tyreek Hill Amid Child Abuse Probe, the story focused on comments Bowe made about the embattled Chiefs wide receiver.
We’ll get to that in a moment.
But we found Bowe’s comments about his day with the Chiefs more interesting.
Bowe, 34, played for two seasons under head coach Andy Reid before being released by the team in the spring of 2015. He then played a year with the Cleveland Browns, and was out of the league in each of the last two seasons; his retirement on Thursday was merely a formality.
But Bowe was impressed with what he saw.
”It feels different, man,” he said of the team. “The team has switched; I [now] only know like five guys on the team. I said, ‘You guys have a lot of positive energy.’”
Bowe said he talked to the head coach about the vibe he noticed.
“Talking to Big Red [Chiefs head coach Andy Reid], he was like, ‘This year out of all years feels real real different,’” Bowe said. “It’s always that adversity in the beginning, but just the way they handled adversity and the way they were practicing yesterday during phase two training, I was like, ‘Wow!’
“So it’s going to be a hell of a year,” Bowe continued. “I’m excited. I’m definitely going to catch a few games. I’m pulling for those guys.”
Bowe also said — as TMZ’s banner headline trumpeted — that Tyreek Hill’s teammates are pulling for him.
“I talked to guys on the team,” he told TMZ. “They’re still rooting for him. It’s all, ‘he said, she said’ until the final word.”
Bowe said he has difficulty believing the worst of Hill, telling TMZ that it doesn’t make sense to him.
“He’s a good player. He’s a good guy. I met him. I really don’t believe all the things I hear on the Internet and on the news.”
Bowe said he learned little about the specifics of Hill’s case from his former teammates.
“They’re keeping it real tight,” he said. “They don’t even know — it’s only Tyreek and the authorities [do]. It’s a bad situation, man.”