Patriots keep spending a lot of time with Zay Flowers before 2023 NFL Draft
Boston College wide receiver prospect Zay Flowers had quite a visit with the New England Patriots on Wednesday. NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero tweeted Thursday that Flowers “landed in Boston at 6 a.m. from an overnight Vegas flight and went straight to the #Patriots facility to spend the day learning the offense with Bill O’Brien on […]
Boston College wide receiver prospect Zay Flowers had quite a visit with the New England Patriots on Wednesday.
NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero tweeted Thursday that Flowers “landed in Boston at 6 a.m. from an overnight Vegas flight and went straight to the #Patriots facility to spend the day learning the offense with Bill O’Brien on his visit, per source.”
NFL analyst Brett Kollman quote-tweeted Pelissero with “Feels like the worst kept secret in the league is that Zay is a Patriot lol.”
The Patriots also hosted USC wide receiver prospect Jordan Addison this week.
A key element working in Flowers’ favor is that the Patriots coached him at the East-West Shrine Bowl this winter. The Patriots have two wide receivers coaches. Troy Brown was the West team’s head coach. Ross Douglas was the West team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Patriots running backs coach Vinnie Sunseri coached wide receivers.
The Patriots were also present at Flowers’ pro day at Boston College. He ran routes but didn’t work out after running a 4.42-second 40-yard dash with a 35.5-inch vertical leap and 10-feet, 7-inch vertical jump at the NFL Scouting Combine.
The 5-foot-9, 182-pound wideout caught 78 passes for 1,077 yards with 12 touchdowns while adding 12 carries for 40 yards as a senior in 2022. He caught 200 passes for 3,056 yards with 29 touchdowns and carried the ball 57 times for 345 yards with two touchdowns over his four-year college career. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-native also returned seven punts for 43 yards in 2022.
There’s some question over where Flowers comes off the board. DraftScout.com has him projected as a second-round pick. There’s some growing buzz that he could be drafted even before the Patriots pick at No. 14 overall, but this is also lying season around the NFL Draft as agents hype up their players and teams hide their true intentions. The Patriots have certainly spent a lot of time with Flowers, and there are people around the NFL who believe the interest is real. It's notable that they would want him to visit New England even after spending so much time around him at the Shrine Bowl.
Of course, the Patriots have other (potentially greater) needs other than wide receiver. They need a big cornerback who can handle physical wide receivers, and they need starting left and right tackles of the future. According to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, New England also would like to add another “blue-chip” running back. Texas’ Bijan Robinson certainly would qualify, but the Patriots taking a running back at No. 14 overall wouldn’t represent the best value for that pick with Rhamondre Stevenson already on the roster and under contract for two more seasons.
The Patriots signed wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in free agency but lost Jakobi Meyers and Nelson Agholor. They still have DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Tyquan Thornton, Lynn Bowden, Tre Nixson and Raleigh Webb on their roster.
We’ll find out later this month where the Patriots actually go in the first round. But Flowers is seeming like a worthy consideration at this point.
Featured image via Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
