For Redskins, Ereck Flowers signing is a solid, upside-based move

Ereck Flowers isn’t exactly an inspiring option for the Washington Redskins, but his upside makes him worth the risk on a one-year deal.

Throughout four years in the NFL, Ereck Flowers has been subpar. Actually, that’s putting it kindly. As a tackle for the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars, Flowers has been mostly dreadful. He has struggled to block in space and definitely hasn’t lived up to his draft slot of ninth overall in 2015.

Flowers didn’t generate much interest on the open market this offseason, so the Washington Redskins swooped in to sign him. On the surface, this may seem like a mediocre move given Flowers’ level of play. However, given the relative cost of adding Flowers and his potential to grow, this should qualify as a solid, upside-based move for the squad.

Though Flowers hasn’t been great through four seasons in the league, he won’t turn 25 until the first day of 2019 NFL Draft. He still has plenty of time to figure things out if he can team up with a coach that can maximize his potential.

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Bill Callahan could do just that. Callahan is widely viewed as one of the better offensive line coaches in the NFL. He has done well to develop guys like Chase Roullier, Morgan Moses, and Ty Nsekhe into quality players on the offensive line. Sure, the unit struggled last year, but that was due to injury concerns. Callahan would have had a tough time developing many of the players he was given into solid contributors.

Elsewhere, it seems likely that the Redskins are going to cross-train Flowers and may ultimately move him to guard. This move could give Flowers a chance to remake his career. He is big, strong, and has decent athletic ability. He just has struggled to move in space. At guard, this issue would be protected a bit, as he would have a quality lineman on either side of him (Trent Williams and Chase Roullier). And at the very least, Flowers has more upside than Shawn Lauvao, an injury-prone five-year starter for the ‘Skins.

When looking at Flowers’ contract, it’s not a bad one either. It’s just a one-year deal worth a maximum of $4 million. And the key word there is maximum. Flowers is only guaranteed about $1.5 million, per Spotrac, and he has a $3.2 million cap hit. Considering that this is only a one-year deal, the Redskins can move on from him fairly easily if he ends up failing. And if he performs poorly and they want to cut him, they’ll only absorb $1.5 million in dead cap space. That’s not a number that will hurt the team long-term.

Also, it’s notable that the team lost Nsekhe this offseason, so Geron Christian is their projected swing tackle. If Christian can’t improve but Flowers makes strides under Callahan, he could take on that role and give the team an experienced option there.

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Flowers’ deal isn’t one that’s going to be a game-changer for the Redskins unless he can develop into a good starter at left guard. But, they added experienced depth to their offensive line on the cheap. Considering that Flowers has 55 starts under his belt and isn’t even 25 yet, paying him for one year to see if he can improve is worth it. If he can’t, he’ll be back on the free agent market in short order, but the ‘Skins won’t lose much by adding him.

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