Rumors: Brandon Flowers on the Trading Block?

Brandon Flowers was a notable no-show from the first day of OTAs, stirring up a storm of speculation about the future of Flowers with the team. Here are a few scenarios which may be at play with Flowers.

1. Flowers Had Other Plans

Flowers was one of five players to not show up to practice today, and there is reason enough to go “so what?” None of the practices this month are required, in fact none of the 85 players who did show up Tuesday were required to. It is entirely possible Flowers had another obligation which prevented him from attending or he is doing his own training somewhere else.

This issue with this theory is normally these things are announced quickly. The Chiefs are very much on top of things like this and would have notified the media if Flowers was going to be gone for any reason. This was done with the other four players who did not attend Tuesday’s OTA. Flowers? Not so much.

2. Flowers Is On The Chopping Block

There is a chance the Chiefs are planning on cutting Flowers after June 1 in order to save money against the cap. Kansas City has contract extensions pending with players like Justin Houston and Alex Smith in addition to needing to potentially pay key free agents like Rodney Hudson. The extra cap space would be very useful.

It would make sense for Flowers to stay at home and not risk injury if he knows he’s about to be cut. There might even be a chance the Chiefs encouraged him to stay at home because of their intentions.

One problem with this scenario is there is nothing to be gained by waiting to cut Flowers. John Dorsey can designate Flowers as a June 1 cap now and let him walk. Waiting until next week to make it official wouldn’t make much sense. This is why I think the third option probably makes the most sense…

3. Flowers Is On The Trading Block

Trading Flowers makes way more sense than just letting him walk. While there may be those who disagree, Flowers is a very good football player with a lot of value on the open market. There is plenty of reason to the the Chiefs could get a quality draft pick or multiple third day draft picks in a Flowers trade.

Teams trading Flowers would only be on the hook for the salary portion of Flowers’ deal, which is in the more reasonable $5-6.5 million range over the next three years. This makes Flowers, who I will remind you was indeed a Pro Bowler in 2013, a valuable trade chip. Teams like Houston, Indianapolis, or Tennessee.

Here’s a note from Chris Wesseling:

One year after Flowers boasted that Kansas City could be home to the NFL’s best secondary, the organization is reportedly open to dealing the veteran cornerback, who proved to be a poor scheme fit in Bob Sutton’s defense.

Kansas City was open to trading Flowers before the NFL draft earlier this month so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Flowers was deal next month. In fact, if Flowers isn’t at Chiefs OTAs now, there could be a chance a deal has already been made but won’t be finalized until next week. A trade made a week from now would scatter out the dead money cap hit the Chiefs would take in a similar way cutting him on June 1 would. Think of the Jonathan Baldwin trade as reference.

I want to emphasize that there is no trade being reported, this is all speculation on my part. There is enough smoke building up that it would makes sense for something to be brewing. Trade rumors plus cap needs plus Flowers’ lack of ideal scheme fit plus Flowers not being at practice certainly seems to form into an equation where Flowers may not be with the organization much longer. It is enough to make Terez A. Paylor curious.

Make of all of this what you will.