When Dwayne Bowe joined the Browns, the former Pro Bowl selection claimed he still possessed everything it took to be a No. 1 wide receiver heading into his ninth NFL season.
“Do you think I still got it?” Bowe said then. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have it. [The Browns] know what I’ve got, and I’m glad to showcase it this year.”
But Bowe didn’t even last a year in Cleveland.
The Browns terminated his contract Wednesday, four days shy of what would have been his first anniversary with them.
The team announced the move in a news release without a quote from its brass. Less than a half hour earlier, new head of football operations Sashi Brown was quoted thanking inside linebacker Karlos Dansby for his services as the organization cut him.
Bowe, 31, leaves the Browns as one of their all-time biggest misses in free agency.
Last year, former Browns General Manager Ray Farmer signed Bowe to a two-year, $12.5 million contract, which included $9 million guaranteed. He was inactive in nine games and a healthy scratch in eight. He appeared in just seven games and finished the season with five receptions for 53 yards, or $1.8 million a catch.
He spent the previous eight seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, who employed Farmer as director of pro personnel during Bowe’s glory years with the organization. The Chiefs cut Bowe last year coming off a season in which he caught 60 passes for 754 yards, far from his NFL-leading 15 touchdowns and Pro Bowl nod in 2010 yet respectable.
But Bowe missed most of training camp with the Browns because of an injured hamstring. He never appeared to return to top physical condition, and rumblings surfaced about him failing to learn the playbook of ex-Browns offensive coordinator John DeFilippo.
Cutting Bowe cleared $3.4 million in salary-cap space for the Browns, according to OverTheCap.com. It also allowed the new regime to move on from one of Farmer’s worst moves.
Brown served as the Browns’ chief contract negotiator when they signed Bowe. But in January, Brown pointed to Farmer making the final call on the deal.
“With Bowe, at the end of the day, it was Ray’s decision and we get aboard and support,” Brown said. “ ... I provided my advice and we ended up with a deal with Dwayne that we would say, and I think that Dwayne would say, [we’re] disappointed in the outcome. No question.”
New arrival
The Browns and free safety Rahim Moore have agreed to contract terms, a source familiar with the situation confirmed Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.
The Houston Texans cut Moore on March 3 after he was benched during the first season of a three-year, $12 million contract.
Moore, 26, started six of the seven games in which he appeared last season before the demotion. He had 16 tackles and two passes defensed, including one interception. He was inactive for the final nine regular-season games and the Texans’ postseason loss.
The previous season, he started every game for the Denver Broncos, who drafted him in the second round (45th overall) out of UCLA in 2011. He compiled 49 tackles and five passes defensed, including four interceptions.
He has started 54 of the 64 games in which he has appeared during five NFL seasons, but he’s coming off a dud of a year. He struggled with pass coverage and tackling.
“It was mortifying, crying, all kinds of stuff, but that’s because I love football a lot,” Moore told the Houston Chronicle after he was benched last season. “You want to be out there.”
Now Moore is set to receive a chance at redemption with the Browns. He’ll likely be in the mix with Jordan Poyer to replace starting free safety Tashaun Gipson, a Pro Bowl selection in 2014 who left the Browns in free agency last week.
Doing homework
The Browns met with Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook after his Pro Day workout Wednesday, his private coach George Whitfield Jr. wrote on Twitter.
Cook, a Hinckley native and Walsh Jesuit High School graduate, is a projected first- or second-round pick in next month’s draft. He completed 59-of-67 passes, including 16 of 25 yards or more, according to Whitfield, a Massillon native.
Paperwork
Browns special teamer and backup safety Don Jones signed his restricted free agent tender Wednesday, according to the NFL’s list of transactions.