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Ereck Flowers

Free Agent Stock Watch: OL Ereck Flowers

May 27th, 2022 at 10:07pm CST by Ely Allen

Since being drafted ninth overall by the Giants in 2015, offensive lineman Ereck Flowers has had an up-and-down career along the East Coast. The recent Commanders cap casualty is facing free agency for the fourth time in his career. 

New York drafted the standout tackle out of Miami to take over as its new blindside tackle. The former Hurricane had prototypical size, length, and strength, but struggled with technique and coachability coming out of school early. Despite holding his job as the starting left tackle, Flowers only graded out as the 54th-best tackle in the NFL through his third year, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

After declining his fifth-year option, the Giants moved Flowers to the right side of the line to accommodate the addition of Nate Solder. They benched Flowers two games into his fourth year in favor of Chad Wheeler and, after failing to find a trade partner to offload Flowers, they released their former top-10 pick. Four days later, Flowers signed a one-year deal with the Jaguars, in response to Josh Wells getting placed on injured reserve. He started the remainder of the season protecting Blake Bortles‘ blindside.

As a free agent after his time in Jacksonville, Flowers landed a one-year deal with Washington. During camp, Washington moved the longtime tackle inside to left guard, where he would start and excel for the entire season. His renewed efforts at guard earned him a three-year, $30MM deal with the Dolphins following his stint in DC. After adding several linemen in the following offseason, Miami traded Flowers back to Washington the day before the draft in exchange for the two teams swapping seventh round picks. Flowers returned to his starting position at left guard and reportedly played well enough to warrant discussions of an extension, but, ultimately, the Commanders opted to release the seven-year veteran to clear an additional $10MM from their books.

It was expected that Flowers would find a new home relatively easily, considering that, despite his grades, Flowers has solidified himself as a starter at every stop of his career, finding a positional home in his last few years at left guard. Yet Flowers remains available, looking for the right fit for his new home. The top guard options have all found deals so far this year, from Andrew Norwell signing for $5MM annual average to Brandon Scherff signing a deal worth an average of $16.5MM per year.

Flowers would likely be looking at deals that align with the likes of other consistent starters like Rodger Saffold, Lucas Patrick, or Flowers’ former Hurricanes teammate Jon Feliciano. That is to say, he will likely end up signing a one- to two-year tryout deal for around $3.5-$6MM depending on how needy the franchise he ends up with is for an interior lineman. He’ll also have a little value added to his contract for the flexibility he provides as an option to play tackle, as well.

In terms of destinations, Feliciano’s former team, the Bills, doesn’t have a ton of depth on the interior behind Saffold and Ryan Bates. Their top backup is Cody Ford who was benched early last year. Dallas will have a competition for the left guard spot between rookie Tyler Smith and Connor McGovern, with Connor Williams signing with the Dolphins. McGovern struggled last year when moving from right guard to left and Smith played tackle at the collegiate level and may have difficulty transitioning inside. In Detroit, Halapoulivaati Vaitai‘s cap hit is becoming quite large and he is under contract through 2025. Flowers may provide a cheaper option at guard.

The team with the biggest need at left guard is likely Tennessee, which will aim to replace Saffold. Currently it’s looking like a battle between Aaron Brewer, who has six career starts in two years, and Jamarco Jones, who has seven career starts in three years in Seattle. The Titans also drafted Dillon Radunz, but they may want him competing for their open position at right tackle. Tennessee would be well-served to bring in Flowers as a proven starter at left guard over the options it currently has.

In the end, while maybe not living up to his potential as the ninth overall pick, Flowers has established himself as an effective starter in the NFL. His run of recent success was cut short due to the construction of his salary, but he likely won’t be down for long. Look for Flowers to sign a short deal for a couple million per year on a team that needs immediate help on the offensive line.

Commanders Cut Ereck Flowers

March 16th, 2022 at 11:45am CST by Zachary Links

The Commanders have released offensive lineman Ereck Flowers, according to agent Drew Rosenhaus (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com). The move will allow Flowers to sign with any club, starting at 4pm ET/3pm CT today.

[RELATED: Commanders To Cut Matt Ioannidis]

Flowers came to Washington last year via trade with the Dolphins. It was effectively a cap dump for the ‘Fins, as the deal was completed with a simple swap of late-round picks. For Flowers, it was a reunion and an opportunity to reprise some of his best career work in 2019. Playing as Washington’s left guard, Flowers excelled and parlayed his strong showing into a three-year, $30MM contract with Miami.

Flowers earned decent marks from Pro Football Focus while in South Beach. His 65.9 overall score had him tied as the No. 32 guard in the NFL in 2020. This past year, Flowers was up-and-down, allowing six sacks on the year. On the plus side, he ceded only two sacks.

Similar to his last foray into free agency, Flowers has an opportunity to cash in given the dearth of quality interior linemen across the league. While this year’s guard crop was stronger than most, many of this year’s biggest names have already come off of the board.

By cutting Flowers, Washington will clear an additional $10MM from their books.

NFL COVID-19 List Updates: 1/4/22-1/5/22

January 5th, 2022 at 11:32pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are Tuesday and Wednesday’s activations from and placements on the reserve/COVID-19 lists:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: TE Jared Cook, LB Damon Lloyd (remains on IR)

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

NFL COVID-19 List Updates: 12/31/21

December 31st, 2021 at 4:40pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are the New Year’s Eve additions and subtractions from teams’ reserve/COVID-19 lists:

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

  • Activated from practice squad virus list: T Drew Himmelman, LB Barrington Wade

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Dolphins Pay $6MM Of Ereck Flowers’ 2021 Salary

April 27th, 2021 at 2:21pm CST by Zachary Links

Following Tuesday’s trade, the Washington Football Team has Ereck Flowers back in the fold. Meanwhile, $6MM of his $9MM salary has already been paid for by the Dolphins, according to agent Drew Rosenhaus (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter).

Flowers and the ‘Fins agreed to restructure the contract just prior to the trade. Previously, the Dolphins were on the hook for about $20MM over the next two seasons, per the terms of his three-year, $30MM contract. Now, they’ll take about half of that total commitment off of their books, while moving up in the seventh round with a swap of draft picks. The trade will see WFT get Flowers and pick No. 258 while Miami receives No. 244 (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport).

Meanwhile, the Dolphins are moving Robert Hunt to right guard, according to Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald (on Twitter). The decision is yet another signal that Penei Sewell could be a possibility for them at No. 6 overall as they look for a new starting right tackle. For his part, Sewell says he’s comfortable at playing on either side.

Dolphins Trade Ereck Flowers To WFT

April 27th, 2021 at 9:51am CST by Zachary Links

The Dolphins have agreed to trade Ereck Flowers to the Washington Football Team (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The guard will head to D.C. in a swap of late-round picks. 

The deal frees up cap room for the Dolphins, who will have to allocate lots of dollars to their oversized draft class. On Thursday, they’ll start things off with two first-round choices at No. 6 and No. 18 overall.

Meanwhile, Washington gets to reunite with a familiar face. Flowers couldn’t hack it as an offensive tackle in the NFL, but he has reinvented himself as a guard. In 2019, he parlayed a strong showing as Washington’s LG into a three-year, $30MM contract with the Dolphins last year. It was more money than anyone expected for Flowers, though there weren’t many quality lineman on the board. After the Redskins locked down Brandon Scherff and the Patriots took Joe Thuney off of the market with a surprise franchise tag, Flowers was looking better than ever to teams in need of interior help.

Flowers stayed on the interior in Miami, serving as their starting LG in all 14 of his games. He earned decent marks from Pro Football Focus — his 65.9 overall score had him tied as the No. 32 guard in the NFL.

With two years to go on his deal, the former first-round pick is set to earn $9MM in 2021.

East Notes: Williams, Mills, Flowers

April 1st, 2020 at 11:52am CST by Rory Parks

Trent Williams has been one of the most-discussed players in the NFL for about a year now, and it presently does not sound like the Redskins are close to trading their disgruntled left tackle. One of the more overlooked talking points, however, is what happens if a trade is not completed?

We recently heard that the team does not plan to release Williams, which means he would remain under contract with the Redskins through 2020. And holding out wouldn’t earn him any leverage with the Redskins or with a team interested in trading for him, so as Albert Breer of SI.com writes, Williams would have no choice but to play for Washington next season. He clearly does not want that to happen, but at this point, his clearest path to a lucrative new deal may be to stick it out for one more season with the ‘Skins and prove he is still a top-tier LT.

Let’s round up a few more items from the league’s east divisions:

  • CB Kendall Fuller is back with the Redskins on a four-year deal, and he tells John Keim of ESPN.com that a number of factors brought him back to D.C. The Baltimore native played his collegiate ball at Virginia Tech and was drafted by the Redskins in 2016, so Washington is home for him. He also cited new head coach Ron Rivera and Rivera’s reputation for developing CBs as a draw, along with the defensive staff as a whole. Fuller indicated that he does not know if he will play primarily in the slot or outside the numbers (Twitter links).
  • The Eagles brought back Jalen Mills on a one-year, $4MM pact, and the club plans on transitioning him from cornerback to safety in the wake of Malcolm Jenkins‘ departure. Mills says that Philadelphia was the only team that wanted to move him to safety (Twitter link via Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94 WIP), but obviously that switch was agreeable to the 2016 seventh-rounder. It’s fair to wonder, however, exactly how much interest Mills was generating as a CB on the open market.
  • Ereck Flowers couldn’t hack it as an offensive tackle in the NFL, but he has reinvented himself as a guard and parlayed a strong showing at LG with Washington in 2019 into a surprising three-year, $30MM contract with the Dolphins last month. This will not come as much of a surprise, but Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald says Miami intends to have Flowers line up at guard, though his experience at tackle made him attractive to head coach Brian Flores, who clearly targeted FAs with positional versatility.
  • The Bills opted against giving WR/KR Isaiah McKenzie an RFA tender, but they did re-sign him to a one-year pact just the same. McKenzie told Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News that he did have other free agent offers, but despite the fact that he is unlikely to see more playing time with the Bills in 2020 than he did in 2019, his preference was to return to Buffalo (Twitter link).

Dolphins To Sign Ereck Flowers To $30MM Deal

March 16th, 2020 at 12:04pm CST by Zachary Links

The Dolphins have agreed to sign Ereck Flowers, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Once finalized, it’ll be a three-year deal worth $30MM with $19.5MM fully guaranteed.

Flowers, who floundered in his early years with the Giants, was not expected to find free agent riches at the outset of the offseason. However, the dearth of quality offensive line help around the league bolstered his market tremendously. Lately, we’ve heard rumors that Flowers could fetch $10MM/year on his next deal. That was indeed the case, and the Dolphins will be the team to pay out that contract.

Last year, Flowers earned $3.25MM with the Redskins. Playing at guard, Flowers started in all 16 games and surprised many with his performance. After the Redskins locked down Brandon Scherff and the Patriots took Joe Thuney off of the market with a surprise franchise tag, Flowers was looking better than ever to teams in need of interior help.

The deal brings the Miami native and former Hurricane back to his old stomping grounds. Meanwhile, the Dolphins get a talented lineman who – in theory – could offer support at multiple positions.

Redskins Want Ereck Flowers Back

March 7th, 2020 at 6:35pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Ereck Flowers has had a bumpy journey in the pros, but it looks like he might’ve found a permanent home. The Redskins want to bring back the impending free agent, new head coach Ron Rivera told Larry Michael on Redskins Nation, via JP Finlay of NBC Sports.

We heard recently that the ‘Skins were planning on franchise-tagging right guard Brandon Scherff, and Rivera confirmed that he wants both of the guards back. The Giants drafted Flowers ninth overall back in 2015, and it wasn’t long before he was labeled a bust. After starting at least 15 games in each of his first three seasons with very poor results at both tackle positions, Flowers was released midway through his fourth.

He latched on with the Jaguars and started seven games with them in 2018, again struggling mightily. Then he signed a one-year deal with Washington last offseason, and the team moved him to guard during training camp. He thrived in the new position, and started all 16 games.

As for what it will take to re-sign Flowers, Finlay writes that it will probably be more than double the $3.25MM he earned last season. Rivera seemed to be pretty confident about a deal getting worked out and the state of his offensive line, saying “once we get that situation figured out, we will have four of the five (starters) that we know what’s going to happen” with. The one question mark in that scenario, of course, would be left tackle Trent Williams, who was recently given permission to pursue a trade.

NFC East Notes: Williams, Cowboys, Giants

August 12th, 2019 at 9:12pm CST by Sam Robinson

Trent Williams continues to hold out from Redskins camp, but the team is standing firm on the trade front. Despite acquiring Donald Penn, the Redskins have told teams they have no plans to trade Williams, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Teams continue to inquire about the 10th-year left tackle’s availability, but thus far, Washington has resisted. Williams, 31, is upset with the organization because of his contract and its handling of a health scare of his. Some around the league believe the Patriots will make a play for the seven-time Pro Bowler, but nothing is moving on this front yet. This may be an attempt for Washington to drive up the price, but for now, Williams remains a Redskins employee.

As for Washington’s left tackle situation, Penn and 2018 third-rounder Geron Christian are battling for the spot, Albert Breer of SI.com tweets. Ereck Flowers is back at guard but may be behind fourth-round rookie Wes Martin.

Here is the latest from the NFC East:

  • Deandre Baker will miss time for the Giants because of a knee sprain, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com notes (video link). However, the first-round pick’s ACL did not sustain damage, and the Giants appear to expect him back soon. Baker will likely be asked to start in his first season, with Big Blue’s cornerback corps rather thin.
  • The Cowboys gave fourth-round pick Tony Pollard just four carries in their preseason opener, but Jerry Jones may be using that to send a message to holdout Ezekiel Elliott. “He looks confident out there. We know he’s inordinately understanding what it is he does and what he can do,” Jones said, via ESPN.com’s Todd Archer. “We’ve seen him do it. We know he’s capable, if he really needs to, carry the whole load.” Pollard gained 16 yards against the 49ers. While Dak Prescott‘s negotiations have been talking points in the past two days, not much has emerged on the Elliott front. Jones said (via Jon Machota of The Athletic, on Twitter) nothing has changed regarding Dallas’ extension candidates.
  • Third-year Cowboys defensive end Taco Charlton addressed his current situation, which may not involve a full-time starting role. The 2017 first-round pick has just four career sacks and said he was not asked to rush quarterbacks as much as he did as a rookie. He mentioned discussing his NFL future with his agent recently (via Machota, subscription required). “We know my value and everything like that, so everything is good,” Charlton said. “I’m here right now working hard with this team. I will show up every day to work hard, healthy, hurt, whatever may be. Shoulder hurt, I still show up every day to work hard.” The Cowboys have DeMarcus Lawrence recovering from surgery, Robert Quinn out two games with a suspension and Randy Gregory once again banned. The defending NFC East champs will need Charlton, especially early.
  • On another NFC East defensive line, the Eagles saw their 2017 first-round pick return to 11-on-11 drills. Derek Barnett participated in team work for the first time in camp, Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia notes. Barnett spent the offseason recovering from a shoulder injury that sent him to IR in October. The Eagles traded Michael Bennett and lost Chris Long to retirement, pointing to a big role for Barnett.
  • The Giants lost another wide receiver for the season. Recent addition Amba Etta-Tawo tore one of his Achilles’ tendons, per NJ.com’s Matt Lombardo. In his second camp with the Giants, the Syracuse alum has yet to play in a regular-season game. Big Blue is down Sterling Shepard and Corey Coleman and will be without Golden Tate for the season’s first four games.
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