On the heels of Chris Houston‘s release in Detroit, another veteran cornerback has been cut. The Chiefs have parted ways with Brandon Flowers, according to Rachel Santschi of KCChiefs.com (Twitter link). Flowers himself hinted at the news earlier this afternoon on his Twitter account.
“Just want to say thanks to the Hunt family for the six years in Kansas City,” Flowers tweeted. “Thanks to the fans and my teammates for some great years.”
While Flowers, who accrued one interception and 65 tackles in 13 games last season, was selected as a Pro Bowler, advanced metrics suggested he was anything but — his -5.9 Pro Football Focus grade (subscription required) ranked him as just the 87th-best CB in the league last year, among 110 qualified players. However, PFF rated Flowers as a top-seven corner in both 2011 and 2012, so perhaps he was a poor fit in new Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton’s scheme, as had been speculated.
Whether or not Flowers fit the team’s new defensive scheme, his release comes as a bit of a surprise. The Chiefs had reportedly been considering a trade of the veteran cornerback, as our Dallas Robinson outlined earlier this month. Given his down season and the fact that most teams have finished making major offseason moves, Kansas City would have been hard-pressed to extract a ton of value, but Flowers’ relatively modest base salary ($5.25MM in 2014) still appeared movable.
Instead, the 28-year-old will hit the unrestricted free agent market, where he’ll have the opportunity to sign with any team, and I expect he’ll draw plenty of interest. As for the Chiefs, they reduce Flowers’ $10.5MM 2014 cap hit to just $3MM. The remaining $4MM in dead money on the corner’s deal will apply to Kansas City’s 2015 cap.
Dallas Robinson contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.