Do I have your attention? Good. Yes, the headline is meant to be provocative. The idea is to get you to click on the link and read the rest of the article. However, I am quite serious. If I was John Dorsey, I would be working the phones to trade Brandon Flowers. Yes, “Pro Bowl” Cornerback, Brandon Flowers. Why Pro Bowl in quotes? Well, that award was a joke. His play this year did not deserve that recognition. The overwhelming majority of hard core Chiefs fans would agree. Let’s look at a supporting statistic. The fine folks at ProFootballFocus.com (subscription required) graded every play for every player during the season. Out of seventy nine Cornerbacks, where did Flowers rank? He checked in as the sixty seventh best Cornerback in the NFL. Let that sink in for a minute. That is not just poor, that’s abysmal. Yes, Bob Sutton’s system leaves his Cornerbacks exposed and exposed Flowers was. He graded out lower than Marcus Cooper and Sean Smith. Why? Flowers has been a very good player for the Chiefs. Well, we need to roll the clock back a bit.
Dec 22, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Brandon Flowers (24) breaks up a pass intended for Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Da
Flowers was drafted in 2008 in the Second Round of the draft. He was drafted to play Herm Edwards Cover Two zone defense. Flowers is what he is. He is a very good zone Cornerback that tackles well. The problem is, the Chiefs are not playing that defense. Today, the Chiefs want to run a press man scheme and want tall Cornerbacks. How tall is Flowers? He is five foot nine inches. The Chiefs recently interviewed two Cornerbacks at the Senior Bowl, Keith McGill and Stanley Jean Babtiste. Both are quite tall, measuring in at six feet two inches tall or more. How tall is Sean Smith? He is six foot three inches. How tall is Marcus Cooper? He is six foot two inches tall. Flowers just doesn’t fit the profile that Dorsey/Reid want in a Cornerback. He was so bad in this system, he was moved inside to cover smaller slot receivers. He didn’t even do a good job there.
What do you do when you have a valuable player that doesn’t fit your system? You trade him and bring in people who do fit your system. Flowers can be a very good player for the right team. There are enough zone teams in the NFL that there should be a market for him. What is his value? I would speculate that, at best, we could look at a late first, early second round pick for him. I would consider that fair value for a twenty seven year old near Pro Bowl level player. In addition, the Chiefs would appear to clear 5.5 million dollars in cap space (3.5 million in salary and 2 million in a roster bonus).
OK Addicts, that’s my take. What is yours? Am I off my rocker?