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Can Seahawks CB Tre Flowers make the jump in year two?

Jul 2, 2019, 9:59 AM | Updated: 10:16 am

CB Tre Flowers started 15 games for the Seahawks last year. (Getty)

(Getty)

BY STACY ROST
Bump & Stacy, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Seattle Sports

The Seahawks kick off training camp on July 25, and until then, Brock Huard and Mike Salk will count down the top 25 most intriguing Seahawks every weekday at 8:30 a.m. Their list continues with No. 15: cornerback Tre Flowers.

Quick Look

• Drafted by the Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma State.

• Transitioned from safety to cornerback ahead of his rookie season.

• Started 15 games and finished the year with 67 tackles, six passes defended, and three forced fumbles.

What Brock Huard is saying

“He could be even higher on this list,” Huard said of Flowers. “A guy I saw a number of times at Oklahoma State and it was always fun watching him. He was like a spider in college; he played in their scheme this quarters coverage, he was very active coming down into the run game, play-action. He was so thin… but yet he was so durable, and man was he willing and tough. I think when Pete Carroll and John Schneider looked at their crew from the 2018 draft, I think they were so proud of what they did with Tre Flowers. And they should’ve been. They converted a college quarters safety into an every-down cornerback in the NFL into this scheme. And Flowers did it as a rookie and as a fifth-round pick and had a pretty good year. He had about the same grade as Jarran Reed from Pro Football Focus — a 62.9. Not great, but about 10 points better than Shaquill Griffin’s 54.7. So by PFF’s estimation, and I think by our eyes, it felt like he was outplaying even Shaquill Griffin.

“At the end of the year when Pete Carroll said this offseason is going to be about mastery and sitting down with our players — especially with our defensive backs — and saying how do you get a master’s degree? You’ve got your undergraduate and that’s all fine, but that’s not good enough in this scheme. How do you take the next step? I think Coach Carroll is looking for a big jump from Tre Flowers.”

Why is he on this list?

Does he make that jump this year?

“Shaquill Griffin should’ve made one of those jumps last year,” Mike Salk said. “And that’s one of the reasons that Flowers is up here for me, is just the history on the other side last year. We expected Shaquill Griffin to make a year one to year two jump to put him into an elite category, to be the next Richard Sherman. Maybe not all the way to that skill level, but to be the next left corner in this scheme. We always heard, ‘Oh, it’s just the scheme.’ Anybody can play left corner in that scheme, right? Well, no, it turns out that’s not true. Richard Sherman was actually a fantastic football player and dominated from that position for all the time he was here. Shaquill Griffin got worse from year one to year two, and now we’re looking for a bounce back in season three. Can we see continued growth from Tre Flowers from year one to year two, with another year of playing that position in this scheme?”