Ereck Flowers: Miami OL Draft Stock is Rock Solid

Ereck Flowers had a tough day of kick-slide drills at the NFL Scouting Combine, but a few on-field workouts shouldn’t decide his 2015 NFL Draft stock. After watching a bit more tape, I came back to my original take: Flowers is a legitimate prospect that is going to make an NFL team very happy.

Many times on tape, Flowers shows a natural ability to simply be a wall. He squares up very well and does a good job matching up head-to-head against elite defenders. When he gets things right with his first step, his strength is unquestioned.

It’s easy to get scared when you see some of the drills yesterday — I know I did — but you must rely on the tape to give yourself an accurate evaluation. While there are a few instances where he fails to meet the edge rusher, the poor outing at the Combine doesn’t really translate to what you see when you turn on the film.

The former Miami Hurricane is very talented, and it can be argued that his only real flaw is the fact that he occasionally has technical lapses in his game. Too many times does Flowers struggle with doing what he needs to do technically. With NFL coaching, he should improve mightily the moment he hits the practice field.

As far as draft stock goes, Flowers has a legitimate chance to be taken in the first round. Although his talent projects around the second round, there are too many teams in the NFL that have a need at the tackle position.

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I’ve mocked Flowers to the Carolina Panthers a few times, a fit that seems natural.

Below, you’ll see my top-seven at the tackle position:

1. Brandon Scherff, Iowa

2. T.J. Clemmings, Pittsburgh

3. La’el Collins, LSU

4. Jake Fisher, Oregon

5. Ereck Flowers, Miami

6. Andrus Peat, Stanford

7. Cam Erving, Florida State

Projecting where Flowers will land becomes significantly tougher when we bring a guy like Jake Fisher. The Oregon standout could emerge as a first-round pick, and Flowers could be pushed back into the second round because of it.

On the other hand, you could argue that teams will see how raw Flowers is and look at that as a major plus. He has so much room to improve, something that could make him seem a bit more valuable in the scouting process.

Any team that has some wiggle room on the outside could value the kid that put up 37 reps on the bench press this week.