In the 2015 draft, the Giants used their first-round pick, ninth overall, on Ereck Flowers. The offensive tackle played 15 games in ’15 under Tom Coughlin. Now that he has a year in the NFL under his belt, his new coach wants him to trust himself a little more.
“Ereck Flowers is a young man who is learning to trust his technique,” said head coach Ben McAdoo. “He’s fighting hard out there.”
Flowers admitted that there were moments that he got away from his technique in his rookie season.
“Yeah, I would say that happened sometimes,” Flowers said. “I did that more so last year, so this year I am really trying to work on my technique and going in with my coach and watching film. I am trying to focus on that this year.”
Gone is Pat Flaherty, the Giants offensive line coach for all 12 seasons of the Coughlin Era. In is Mike Solari, who comes in with a sterling reputation and experience it being an assistant coach in the NFL for three decades.
“The thing with Ereck is he’s got a lot of ability, a lot of potential,” Solari said. “The key thing we have to do with Ereck is develop the consistency. It’s exciting to work with someone like Ereck. Again, Ben has the practice set up beautifully for different situations and it’s just a matter of continuing to coach him and keep having him ascend.”
In practice, Flowers was going against fellow Miami Hurricane Olivier Vernon, the man the Giants made the highest paid defensive end in the league. According to Solari, Flowers just needs to focus on himself.
“It’s outstanding,” Solari said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re going against. In my opinion, it’s faceless objects. You have to trust your techniques and fundamentals to win a championship. You have to trust your techniques, but there’s different people that put different stress on you, absolutely.”
Vernon played four years with the Dolphins before signing with the Giants in March. The defensive end is impressed with what he sees from Flowers. “Flowers is going to be a really good player, man,”‘Vernon said. “Right now it is all about getting each other better. He helps me out just as far as when it comes to the pass rushing. As young as Flowers is, he is ahead of the game as far as what he knows and his athletic ability. Once he starts getting more knowledge of the game and he puts it with his athletic ability, he is going to be even better, man. I like going against Ereck, just to get each other better.”
There is a mutual respect between Flowers and Vernon, two men who exchanged jerseys after the Giants beat the Dolphins on Monday Night Football last season.
“He is a great player, his all-around game — it is going to be pretty good getting that work in practice,” Flowers said of Vernon.