Ereck Flowers (born April 25, 1994) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

who is a free agent. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

and was drafted ninth overall by the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

in the

2015 NFL Draft The 2015 NFL Draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park, from April 30 to May 2. The previous ...

. He has also played for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

, Washington Redskins / Football Team, and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

. Flowers played

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

at the University of Miami and in the early part of his NFL career prior to switching to guard in 2019.

Early years

A native of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, Flowers originally attended

Krop High School Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School is a secondary school located at 1410 County Line Road in Ives Estates, an unincorporated area of north Miami-Dade County (Miami address), Florida, US. However, it serves the city of Aventura, northern fri ...

in the Ives Estates, where he was a basketball standout and did not focus on football until his junior year. For his senior year, he transferred to Norland High School in

Miami Gardens Miami Gardens is a city in north-central Miami-Dade County, Florida. It is located north of Downtown Miami with city boundaries that stretch from I-95 and Northeast 2nd Avenue to its east to Northwest 47th and Northwest 57th Avenues to its west ...

, where he joined a talented varsity that featured blue chip running back

Duke Johnson Randy "Duke" Johnson Jr. (born September 23, 1993) is an American football running back for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round (77th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft. ...

. Flowers helped the Vikings to a 15–0 season record and a

FHSAA The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is an organization whose purpose is to organize sports competition for high schools in Florida. It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Florida uses ...

Class 5A championship over Crawfordville Wakulla. Regarded as a four-star recruit by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, Flowers was ranked as the 20th-best offensive tackle in his class. ''

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

'' labelled him a three-star recruit and ranked him 57th in his position. He chose Miami (FL) over offers from

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

, and

Central Florida Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the Gr ...

College career

As a true freshman at the

in 2012, Flowers played in all 12 games at right tackle, making four starts. As a sophomore in 2013, he started all 12 games at left tackle. He returned as the starting left tackle in 2014. On December 29, 2014, Flowers announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the

Professional career

New York Giants

On April 30, 2015, Flowers was selected with the ninth overall pick by the

in the

. He was the highest selected Miami Hurricanes offensive lineman since

Bryant McKinnie Bryant Douglas McKinnie (born September 23, 1979) is a former American football offensive tackle. He played college football at the University of Miami, where he was twice recognized as an All-American. He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings ...

in 2002. On June 18, 2015, Flowers signed a 4-year $14.3 million contract with the Giants. He was named the Giants starting left tackle for Week 1 and played in 15 games in his rookie season. Although he wore number 76 jersey throughout his entire rookie season, Flowers decided to switch to his college number 74 during the spring of 2016 after it was left available with the departure of teammate

Geoff Schwartz Geoffrey Isaiah Schwartz (born July 11, 1986) is a former American football offensive guard in the National Football League, NFL and author. He was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft, and played for them ...

. Flowers has been criticized for not living up to expectations through his 3rd year in the league. Since he gave up 169 total pressures which is the most of any tackle in the NFL during that time. Those stats and his numerous penalties have caused

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

to rate him as the 54th best tackle in the NFL. In 2018, former offensive line teammate and NFL analyst Geoff Schwartz accused Flowers of "quitting" on the team, of missing multiple blocks, and of having poor technique. On May 2, 2018, the Giants declined the fifth-year option on Flower's contract, making him a free agent in 2019. He was moved over to right tackle after the Giants signed veteran

Nate Solder Nathaniel Perry Solder (born April 12, 1988) is an American football offensive tackle who is a free agent. He played college football for the University of Colorado, and was recognized as an All-American. He was drafted by the New England Patrio ...

to be their left tackle. On September 23, 2018, the Giants decided to bench Flowers in favor of

Chad Wheeler Chad Wheeler (born January 19, 1994) is a former American football offensive tackle. He played college football for the USC Trojans football team from 2012 to 2016. At the end of the 2016 season, he was selected as a first-team All-Pac-12 pla ...

at right tackle after his continued struggles. On October 8, 2018, the Giants announced plans to release Flowers if a trade with a team couldn't be worked out. The next day, Flowers was officially released by the Giants.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On October 12, 2018, the

signed Flowers to a one-year contract after Josh Wells was placed on injured reserve. He was named the starting left tackle in Week 11 and started there the rest of the season.

Washington Redskins

On March 18, 2019, Flowers signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

. He transitioned to

during the team's

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

, where he started all season at left guard.

Miami Dolphins

On March 20, 2020, Flowers signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the

. He was placed on the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

reserve list by the team on August 2, 2020, before being activated on August 15.

Washington Football Team

On April 28, 2021, Flowers was traded to the

Washington Football Team The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) E ...

in exchange for a swap of 2021 seventh round picks from both teams. On December 31, 2021, he was placed on the team's COVID-19 reserve list and was forced to sit out of the Week 17 game against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. Flowers was placed back on active roster on January 5, 2022. Flowers was released on March 16, 2022.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flowers, Ereck 1994 births Living people Players of American football from Miami Miami Norland Senior High School alumni American football offensive tackles American football offensive guards Miami Dolphins players Miami Hurricanes football players New York Giants players Jacksonville Jaguars players Washington Football Team players Washington Redskins players