New York Giants: Ereck Flowers must save his career in training camp

New York Giants left tackle Ereck Flowers must silence critics and prove he belongs in the starting lineup before September begins.

The 2017 New York Giants are Super Bowl contenders. You don’t have to search far and wide to find that take on social media platforms and in NFL season previews. Even the Giants’ official website recently pointed out that NFL.com has forecasted New York quarterback Eli Manning will get the better of New England Patriots star Tom Brady to finalize the championship trilogy between those two future Hall-of-Fame talents.

It’s easy to understand why so many are so high on the Giants this summer. The Big Blue offense is led by a proven two-time Super Bowl champion. New York may feature the best group of wide receivers in the NFL. The team’s defense should be as good as it was last fall. There are no concerns about any “sophomore slumps”, such as those hovering over the Dallas Cowboys in late July. All things considered, Giants fans should have high hopes for the next five months.

Every NFL roster has holes, though, and the Giants cannot boast of being a flawless side, on paper, heading into training camp. Most notably, observers and fans are concentrating on the team’s offensive line while singling out left tackle Ereck Flowers whenever they discuss reasons why the Giants may fail to meet such high expectations.

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Odds are, even casual Giants fans are at least somewhat familiar with the much-maligned Flowers. The 23-year old selected by the Giants early in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft has, for the most part, struggled to adapt to life in the NFL. Another way to say it is that Flowers looks like a bust after two years in the pros. He’s been a liability up front, he’s hung Manning out to dry more times than anybody would like to count and his game film is downright difficult to watch for those who possess any positive feelings about the club.

Nevertheless, club general manager Jerry Reese and his staff elected to not locate a direct replacement for Flowers in free agency or the NFL Draft. Granted, that doesn’t necessarily mean Flowers won’t start the season on the bench if things go horribly wrong for him between now and Week 1, but the perception, as of the first day of training camp, is that he is expected to start at his natural position.

Maybe, just maybe, there is some gold in them hills. Per Ed Valentine of Big Blue View, defensive tackle Damon Harrison praised Flowers during an appearance on Sirius XM NFL Radio earlier this month. According to Harrison, Flowers has “changed his body type,” “gotten stronger” and is fully committed to improving and becoming the Manning protector the Giants desperately need him to be.

It is worth noting Flowers hasn’t been a complete disaster every time he has stepped out onto the field over the past two seasons. As Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus noted last January, Flowers actually performed well in the first three games of the 2016 campaign before he fell off a figurative cliff and seemingly lost his talents.

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Flowers clearly has the size and even the athletic gifts to excel at the position. One doesn’t simply forget how to square up and get physical against pass rushers. Good footwork doesn’t magically disappear overnight. Flowers’ problems clearly go beyond needing to spend more time in the classroom, more time in the weight room and more time practicing against what should be a stellar New York defensive line in training camp sessions.

How does a coaching staff cure an alleged crisis of confidence? To begin with, you assure the individual he isn’t being replaced. Head coach Ben McAdoo doesn’t need to make any boisterous proclamation to Flowers in late July. The Giants unofficially announced earlier this year the club believes in Flowers by not acquiring somebody else to play left tackle. The job is his to lose whether or not he is ready to take on that responsibility.

While Flowers may, understandably, need to bolster his pride at this stage of his career, he also needs to see the writing on the wall. Not only will the Giants have no reason to pick up the fifth-year option of his contract if he doesn’t improve. It’s difficult to imagine any team will take a chance on him if he matches his lackluster performances from a season ago. After all, dozens of offensive linemen are available just about every spring. There’s bound to be somebody out there who can do the job better than the left tackle the Giants started last January.

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It’s difficult, if not impossible, to predict what Flowers will be because we haven’t seen him do anything of note in roughly half a calendar year. Coaches can trust he’s done well to make necessary changes to his body and diet, but that’s only a small part of the battle this summer. Flowers needs to actually believe he can be part of a championship-caliber offensive line. If that doesn’t happen over the next six weeks, he may find himself a spectator lucky to have a seat on the bench come September.

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