Teams looking for a starting cornerback may have another option other than trying to find a gem in the upcoming NFL Draft.
According to multiple reports, the Kansas City Chiefs have made Brandon Flowers available for trade. The team is hoping to accumulate extra draft picks prior to Thursday night, and are using its Pro Bowl corner to try to reel them in.
For teams interested in acquiring Flowers, the main obstacle is Flowers’ contract. He is set to earn a base salary of $5.25 million and a cap hit of more than $10 million in 2014, and another $11.5 million due the year after, which may difficult for many teams to absorb. Flowers has three years remaining on his six-year, $49.35 million deal.
Per Dan Pompei:
Teams looking for a starting cornerback in the draft may be hard pressed to find one if they don’t strike early. But they may be able to acquire a veteran in a trade. The Chiefs are believed to be willing to deal Brandon Flowers in an attempt to acquire extra draft selections. The corner made the Pro Bowl in 2013 even though he did not have his best season. Pro scouts consider him a tough, scrappy player who is an above-average cover man. Flowers’ contract could make a trade difficult. He is due to earn $5.25 million in base salary this year, and at this point of the offseason, not many teams have the type of cap flexibility to acquire a player with that big a number.
Despite earning a trip to the Pro Bowl last season, Flowers struggled in defensive coordinator Bob Sutton’s press-man scheme. He graded out as a bottom-15 cover corner, according to Pro Football Focus, allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 66.7 percent of their passes when targeting him.
Flowers, 28, may be another option for teams with available salary cap space that want a proven commodity instead of using its first-round pick on a potential-laden prospect. Though Flowers struggled in press-man coverage, he could fill in a slot corner, where he wound out toward the end of last season.
He was Pro Football Focus’ No. 7 corner in 2012 before falling to the 87th in 2013.
ESPN reported in March that Flowers is not expected to remain with the team beyond the 2014 season. If the Chiefs elected to release him, he would generate $3.5 million in cap space.
