Giants fans reading this next sentence are either going to laugh or feel nauseous regret.
Ereck Flowers is going to land a big contract as a free agent with some offensive line-needy team.
At least if you believe Redskins interim head coach Bill Callahan, who was the team’s offensive line coach until Jay Gruden’s firing in October and is responsible for helping salvage the 25-year-old Flowers’ career.
“He’s worked hard to get to where he’s at,” Callahan said, “and he’ll hit the free-agency market and I think he’ll do pretty well.”
The Giants will enter the offseason with a need for anywhere from one to three new offensive line starters. Certainly an offensive tackle.
But a reunion with Flowers — a flopped 2015 first-round pick and a punching bag for both fans and former Giants — is less likely than anything that could come across a television screen. Flowers carries great animosity for his Giants experience.
After three failed seasons at left tackle, the Giants tried to move Flowers to right tackle last season. He still struggled, was benched after two games, ultimately cut to no first-guessing and finished last season with the Jaguars.
The one thing two regimes of Giants front offices did not do despite outside suggestions was try a move to guard. Flowers has started 14 games at left guard for the Redskins and is the No. 32-ranked guard (right and left combined) in the NFL by Pro Football Focus. Will Hernandez, the Giants’ second-round draft pick in 2018, is No. 44.
“I love Flowers. I loved him coming out of the draft. I think the world of him,” Callahan said.
“I think he’s one of our better offensive linemen, and to make the switch that he made … he made it remarkably well, and it’s a really good position for him. He’s playing better in live tight-quarter situations. He’s physical, he’s been really good in pass protection, he’s a strong square force in that respect.”
If the Redskins are so high on Flowers, why not re-sign him? Well, Callahan might not be around to offer his input when the Redskins hire another coach.
Flowers was flagged for 29 penalties during his Giants career and often forced sack-wary Eli Manning to throw the ball too quickly when it was clear he didn’t trust his blind-side protection.
“I just like the way he works, how he goes about his business,” Callahan said. “Sometimes, it’s just a breath of fresh air. I’ve had a lot of guys in my career, a couple of different places, that sometimes a different exposure to new techniques, a different system, it kind of revives them.”
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