Any trades must be completed by 4 p.m. on Thursday. Some will blame the timing for the reason it will be such a dud, pointing out that if it were later in the season, teams would be more willing to cut bait. They should really blame the nature of the game of football, which does not lend itself to quick changes nearly so much as other sports.

Baseball players don't have to learn a new offense, they have to become accustomed to wearing different clothes. Basketball is a little trickier in terms of transition, but it's a sport where offense often comes down to one-on-one matchups.

Football is different. Football is interdependent. Football is not a sport that lends itself to finding quick fixes on the open market in the middle of the season.

Which is a very long way of saying that you shouldn't much time wondering about whether the Seahawks will acquire receiver Dwayne Bowe from the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday.

Bowe is 6 feet 2, a former first-round pick more than 1,100 yards receiving each of the previous two seasons.

Sounds like a pretty enticing target for a team like Seattle. It has been eight years since the Seahawks had a receiver log consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons. The last to do it was Darrell Jackson in 2003 and 2004, and in the seven seasons since, the Seahawks have had exactly one player reach that millennium mark: Bobby Engram in 2007.

So with Kansas City floundering, Bowe unhappy and the Seahawks ranking No. 31 in passing offense, why wouldn't Seattle go pick him up?

The Seahawks might. If the price was right, which would mean a pick in the big half of the draft. At that point, acquiring a player of Bowe's undeniable talent might be worth it because even though Bowe has half a season remaining on his contract, the Seahawks would then have the option of applying the franchise tag.

Seattle has shown a willingness to give a fresh start to a guy seeking a second chance. It traded what turned out to be a fourth-round pick for Marshawn Lynch, who became a franchise back. They signed Mike Williams for the veteran minimum.

They have never done what the Seahawks did under Tim Ruskell, though, which is to trade a first-round draft pick for the right to pay another team's player a big-budget contract in the middle of the season, and to see the dangers of that, you need only remember two words. One is Deion, the other is Branch.

Acquiring Bowe with the hope he would jump start the passing game would be pretty short-sighted. Quarterback Russell Wilson has half a season under his belt, is gaining rapport with his receivers and now you want to have him start incorporating a talented player who has never played in a West Coast system?

For short-term results, Jermaine Kearse is a much better option. No, he doesn't have Bowe's credentials nor does he have the same skill set. What he does have is a willingness to play special teams and an understanding of Seattle's offense.

And if you're looking for someone to come in and catch 20 passes over the final eight games of this season, Kearse is someone who will be able to do that much easier than Bowe, something that has not nearly as much to do with their talent as their familiarity with the system.

Football is not like baseball nor is it like basketball, which is the reason the NFL's trade deadline is always such a dud.