When the Seattle Seahawks swung a trade with the Washington Redskins, acquiring star cornerback Quinton Dunbar for a fifth round pick, it seemed to solidify the team’s starting secondary.
Dunbar is expected to line up at right cornerback, with Pro Bowler Shaquill Griffin on the left side and veterans Quandre Diggs and Bradley McDougald reprising their roles at free and strong safety, respectively.
So where does that leave Tre Flowers, a converted safety who started the past two seasons at right cornerback?
Flowers joined the Seahawks as a safety prospect out of Oklahoma State in 2018, getting selected in the fifth round. Seattle immediately converted him into a cornerback, and he won a starting job and started 15 games with 67 combined tackles, three forced fumbles and six passes defended, an altogether solid rookie season.
Flowers’ numbers improved in 2019, with eight passes defended, 82 combined tackles, one forced fumble along with the first three interceptions of his career. However, he proved to be a liability in coverage, earning a 53.9 grade from Pro Football Focus while often being targeted by opposing quarterbacks, and committing a lot of crucial penalties downfield.
Now, it’s unclear what exactly the 2020 season has in store for him. The Seahawks will of course let him compete for his starting job again, but barring an injury it seems likely that Griffin and Dunbar will be the starters.
Flowers doesn’t really fit the nickel corner role, which is expected to go to Ugo Amadi, and while he could begin transitioning back into a safety the team already has Marquise Blair and Lano Hill waiting behind Diggs and McDougald – making that an unlikely spot for him as well.
So now what? Flowers’ best chance to carve out a role on this team is to find his niche as a special teamer, something he has not done a ton of in his career. He appeared on 18% of the team’s special teams snaps in 2018, and 21% last year.
However, his athleticism and size could make him a promising special teams contributor, as well as his ability to punch the football out.
Flowers is almost certainly not going to get cut, as he would save the team very little money and his versatility and experience are too valuable to get rid of, but he might have to find a new way to help this team on the field in 2020 if he doesn’t want to spend the season on the sidelines.
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