by Jared Smola

Quick! Who led all rookies in receptions, receiving yards and receiving TDs last year? While most of you Sharks will probably get it after a few seconds of thought (and because of the fact that I just mentioned his name in the title), I’m sure the name Calvin Johnson immediately popped into some of your heads.

While Johnson was one of the most hyped WRs to come out of the draft in the last decade, it was Bowe that had the best rookie season.

On a piss-poor offense, the LSU product racked up 70 catches for 995 yards and 5 TDs. Let’s compare those numbers to the rookie seasons of some guys who have become fantasy studs over the past few years:

That’s some elite company right there. Company that I think Bowe will be a part of in a few years.

As for 2008, I see Bowe finishing safely inside the top-20 with a chance to crack the top-15. Sure, the Chiefs offense probably won’t be much better this year, but Dwayne Bowe sure will be. And the offense can’t get any worse (can it!?!).

One alarming note is the fact that since 1991, only 2 WRs (Marques Colston and Braylon Edwards) that led their class as rookies improved the following year. But I think Bowe is plenty good enough to build on his rookie numbers.

There’s no doubt that he’s the best WR on his team, and with TE Tony Gonzalez and RB Larry Johnson getting up there in age, Bowe might just be the best player on the offense. Plus, while HC Herm Edwards would love to pound the rock all day long, he’ll have to air it out a bit more when he finds his team down by 21 at halftime.

Bowe is currently the 22nd WR off the board in average drafts. That’s after guys like Marvin Harrison and Hines Ward.  I’d say Bowe’s parked right in the heart of value city.

I’d love to hear your comments.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.