Past positions aid Flowers’ present
FOXBORO — Going back to high school, Marquis Flowers played a number of different positions on both sides of the ball. A little bit of everything, with the common thread speed.
“Yeah, I mean, I can run,” Flowers said. “I’m not trying to brag. I’ve always been able to run.”
He played multiple offensive skill positions at Millennium High School outside Phoenix, including running back. At the University of Arizona, Flowers settled into the defensive side, first at safety before moving to weak-side linebacker.
Jeff Casteel, the Wildcats’ defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2012, said the Patriots outside linebacker had the right skills for the position even it wasn’t a seamless transition.
“There was a huge learning curve for him, because obviously the closer to the line of scrimmage you are, the quicker your eyes have to be and you have to be able to learn to play with his hands and some of those things,” said Casteel, now head coach at Nevada. “He did it for the team and, as the years sort of went on, he became a little bit more comfortable with it. But it was a struggle for him initially just because all those things were new to him and I think he viewed himself more as a safety.”
Even when Flowers made the switch, it didn’t affect his play.
“He can cover everybody,” Casteel said. “He’s that kind of kid.”
Now, with Flowers up to 6-foot-3, 250 pounds and with four years of NFL experience at the position, those days at other positions serve him well.
“I think one of the things that helps me is understanding where runners want to go when they have the ball,” Flowers said on Wednesday. “Obviously, there’s some dynamic guys like LeSean McCoy who can go anywhere. You don’t see many of those guys. But . . . I understand certain type of runners: Runners who like to go up outside, runners who like to go inside. It makes it easier to understand because I played running back.
“I don’t want to say I know . . . but it helps. It helps me know where this hole his, where this type of guy is, what it is on tape, what he likes to do in the open field.”
Having a linebacker that can be comfortable in space, an asset in pass coverage and snuff out runs in the backfield all help. That has been evident as Flowers, who’s played in all 16 games, earned more defensive snaps lately. He had 14 tackles and 3.5 sacks total against the Bills and Jets to close the regular season. His sack and safety of New York’s Bryce Petty in the fourth quarter completed the scoring of a 26-6 win.
“I think the biggest difference is being comfortable,” Flowers said. “Being comfortable and knowing that you can execute the play. You can be fast. Trust me, I know this. You can be fast and still get told by the coaches to play faster because when you add the element that you’re thinking, it’s useless. You’re thinking too much. You don’t really know what to do.”
But he knows what he’s doing out there.
“Now you can play fast and now you can play smart . . . . It makes you look that much faster,” he added. “But, yeah, just running, I can do that a little bit.”