Jason Bridge-USA TODAY Sports

Former Kansas City Chiefs GM Scott Pioli was on SiriusXM NFL Radio yesterday and he helped to shed some light on the Dwayne Bowe cotract situation.

Pioli may not know the status of the negotiations now, as he is no longer the GM in KC, but he did try to negotiate a long-term deal with Bowe’s agent last year. Pioli and Bowe’s camp were not able to come to an agreement in 2012 and so the team placed the franchise tag on Bowe to prevent him from hitting free agency.

According to Pioli, Bowe’s agent has an inflated sense of Bowe’s worth.

“Dwayne is a good, productive player at a position of need,” Pioli said. “He’s the best receiver on the Chiefs. He’s one of the better receivers in the NFL. . . . I don’t believe he’s as good as maybe his agent thinks – and when I say that I don’t say that disrespectfully – I just mean there was a difference in opinion. I think he’s a top receiver that would deserve to be compensated in the top ten range, not the top five.”

I have to agree. I think Bowe has the talent to be a top five receiver but he has never had the right offensive situation to allow him to shine. More specifically, Bowe’s QBs since entering the league have been atrocious.

If Bowe gets the franchise tag again, he will be due a 20-percent raise over the $9.6 million he received last year. In short, the Chiefs will have to pay Bowe $11.4 million.

Bowe’s agent may have an inflated sense of his client’s worth but you have to look at this from the point of the Bowe camp. As we always see with top free agents, the market almost always overpays for top players. If Bowe knows he can probably get more in free agency, why should he give the Chiefs a discount? It makes sense that Bowe would only sign if the Chiefs were to offer what he and his agent believe is fair market value for his services.

There is no telling how much Bowe will get from another team in free agency but chances are, it will be a bit more than he might be worth.

What do you think, Addicts? Does it make more sense for the Chiefs to pay Bowe over $20 million over two years or should they just lock him up long-term, even if they overpay a little bit?

(h/t Pro Football Talk)