When a team has as many holes as the New York Jets do, sometimes it’s about finding a player who can do many things, and that’s where Dimitri Flowers comes in.
When fans evaluate players, they look at a position and say, “You can’t draft Position X so high.” The problem is, the New York Jets could use a guy like Dimitri Flowers, even though he’s labeled as a fullback.
People tend to pigeon-hole players into positions. However, when you get a jack-of-all-trades like Flowers, you should stay away from doing that and just call him a football player.
Flowers is an early Day 3 type prospect, even though he’s a “fullback,” because he’s much more than just a traditional fullback. As Lance Zierlein wrote in the NFL.com draft profile of Flowers:
"Flowers may be viewed by some teams as a luxury, but he’s the type of luxury item that will pay for itself over time. Flowers could be an early starter thanks to his ability to plug into so many roles for teams operating out of a variety of personnel groupings."
Flowers can be a power runner in a single back set, a lead full back in the I, play in-line tight end, wing back, or H-back. So, disregard his position label, because he can do so much more for the Jets than meets the eye if you stick to the traditional ideas of the position to which he’s given by a scouting report.
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He won’t give you “extra yards” on running plays or yards after the catch, but he will move the chains on runs and gives you a quality receiver who didn’t drop a pass in college. He’s a quality route runner both from the line and out of the backfield, and can be trusted to block on any level.
With Flowers, you get much more than a fullback. The Jets get a true offensive weapon…a football player.