Who Would You Pick…Wallace or Bowe?
The weakest position on paper besides Free Safety, is our wide receiver core. If you are reading news around the NFL you can’t help but notice two star Wide Receivers are available for the right price; Mike Wallace and Dwayne Bowe. So here is the question of the day, if you were the GM who would you select?
Honestly, I am torn with the decision. So let’s go inside the numbers first, before we make a decision. Let’s agree that we do have a General Manager that can definitely make a phone call and pull off a trade. He proved that to us a few years ago when we got Brandon Marshall. I just want to point out that I don’t think this trade scenario is something we should overlook.
Back to the WR’s that are available, let’s start with Mike Wallace. What stands out about this player, is speed. Extraordinary speed! He’s the home run WR that simply can go to the house with an easy double move on the opposing CB. Furthermore, he’s young at 26 years old; he is just entering his prime years. We would have a legit number one receiver that teams have to pay attention to. Which means opening up the field for other players, by opposing defences playing a bubble coverage on him.
| SEASON | TEAM | GP |
REC
YDS
AVG
LNG
TD
FD
FUM
LST
2009
16
39
756
19.4
60
6
28
1
1
2010
16
60
1,257
21.0
56
10
48
1
0
2011
16
72
1,193
16.6
95
8
54
1
1
Career
48
171
3,206
18.7
95
24
130
3
2
Extracted from ESPN.COM
If we take a look at his stats you can’t help but notice that this WR, has played every game and not missing any time with injuries. This is great knowing that we would potentially be getting a proven healthy player that has shown positive growth in every year. Although his yardage decreased we see an increase in total receptions, which is a great balancer indicator. Name the last time we had a WR on our team that averages 8 TD per season?
The downside, Wallace played with Big Ben last year which might explain why he played so well. We don’t have a two time Super Bowl winning quarterback on our team, second we don’t know how Wallace would play against the constant double coverages. Last, we can’t ignore the fact that Wallace is not signing with the Steeler because of a contract distribute. Mike Wallace is going to command at least a 40 million contract, with at least 17-20 million guaranteed. A contract that would be very similar to Vincent Jackson and Brandon Marshall deals.
Dwayne Bowe is another receiver that refuses to sign his franchise tender. Although the gossip columns are quiet with any talk about a potential trade for Bowe, it has to be something worth mentioning. Bowe had a breakout year two seasons ago, where everyone was thinking he would be the next star WR in the NFL, however that took a negative perception last year where we saw this former first round pick play the same amount of games, but produce ten fewer TDs.
| SEASON | TEAM | GP |
REC
YDS
AVG
LNG
TD
FD
FUM
LST
2007
16
70
995
14.2
58
5
51
0
0
2008
16
86
1,022
11.9
36
7
49
0
0
2009
11
47
589
12.5
41
4
31
1
0
2010
16
72
1,162
16.1
75
15
55
1
0
2011
16
81
1,159
14.3
52
5
57
1
0
Career
75
356
4,927
13.8
75
36
243
3
0
Extracted from ESPN.COM
Some people state that the amount of double coverage became a factor and was the reason why Bowe had a bad year; I look at the other side of the coin and say it was the lack of players around him. After Jamaal Charles and Matt Cassel went down, whom else on the Chiefs offence would you have to game plan for? How would Bowes look in a Miami….pretty nicely if you ask me! The downsides are pretty much the same as Mike Wallace with respect to contract talk. The other issue is that he is one year older than Wallace, but one more year wiser in terms of NFL game experience.
Any way you look at this idea you cannot help but have a smile on your face. Regardless of what your opinion is on Brandon Marshall, we lost a player that opposing teams have to game plan for….plain and simple. With the addition of either WR listed above, we automatically re-introduce this logic. Having Reggie Bush, David Garrad, Charles Clay, a healthy subset of WR (Hartline, Johnson, Nanee, Bess) it would be a great blend of talent. If we look at the teams that are perfecting the West Coast offence there is an alpha WR:
– Saints – Marques Colston
– Packers – Greg Jennings/Jordy Nelson
So all the talk about having a WR balance doesn’t mean that much to me…the top two teams have an alpha, we need the same. One thing that we shouldn’t ignore is that we just drafted a potential player we believe will be our franchise QB. We need to surround him with tools to succeed otherwise he will fail. The Jets did the same when they traded for Braylon Edwards and the Bucs just did it with signing Vincent Jackson. If you are Ireland you are not happy saying…”well I got him Chad Johnson….good luck.”
Alright, decision time….I would take Wallace. Rumors are swirling that you can have him for 3rd to 4th round pick. We did secure an extra 3rd rounder with the Marshall deal so it would be like trading Marshall for Mike Wallace and Michael Egnew. That’s a pretty awesome trade if you ask me! Wallace is also one year younger than Bowes and has no health injuries. He just wants to get paid and I don’t blame him producing the stats he has done the past two years. Last, I can see him being a leader of the locker room and not a headache. Wallace has never been in trouble and brings no negative press. He would mentor our young WR group, especially Clyde Gates, whom everyone thought has the same skill set.
Do you agree?