Ereck Flowers, OG, Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins have been one of the winners of free agency so far. Head coach Brian Flores and general manager Chris Grier deserve a lot of credit for the position the Dolphins are in right now. They added some great defensive pieces such as Byron Jones, Shaq Lawson and Kyle Van Noy. Miami also added some pieces on the offensive side, including running back Jordan Howard and interior offensive lineman Ted Karras.
The Dolphins also have a ton of draft capital in the upcoming NFL Draft. They have three first-round selections (they have the 5th, the 18th and the 26th selections) and they have six picks in the top 60 of the draft. That gives them a ton of flexibility when the draft takes place.
However, one signing does leave us puzzled, and that is offensive guard Ereck Flowers.
Now to be fair to Flowers, who was a bit of a punching back dating back to his combine performance throughout his time with the New York Giants. But he moved inside this past season with the Washington Redskins, and fared well with the switch to left guard. Flowers had a career-low in sacks allowed with two (impressive given he spent a lot of time protecting a rookie quarterback) a career low in hits allowed with two, and a career low in hurries allowed with 20.
But similar to the Fant discussion, there were probably better options available for the Dolphins at the guard spot than Flowers, especially for the money. Graham Glasgow, for example, signed a four-year $44 million dollar contract with the Denver Broncos, which is a bit more per season than what Flowers was given (three years, $30 million dollars) but Glasgow has been a very solid player at both center and guard.
The move also looks interested given that the Dolphins then acquired Ted Karras on the open market, a player with experience at both center and guard.
Miami deserves credit for most of what they have done this far in the off-season, but the Flowers move is a bit questionable.