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Potential Suitors for Kansas City Chiefs Cornerback’ Brandon Flowers

Dan Pompei of Bleacher Report is reporting that the Kansas City Chiefs are willing to listen to offers for Pro Bowl cornerback Brandon Flowers, who recorded nine passes defended and one interception last season. Kansas City is without a second-round pick from the Alex Smith trade last season and might be looking to acquire another pick or two in one of the deepest draft classes in recent history. 

As Pompei points out, the issue here might be Flowers’ contract. 

Flowers’ contract could make a trade difficult. He is due to earn $5.25 million in base salary this year, and at this point of the offseason, not many teams have the type of cap flexibility to acquire a player with that big a number.

Contractual issues aside, there could be a nice amount of interest in a player that has been Kansas City’s true No. 1 cornerback over the past few seasons. He could come in and represent an immediate upgrade for numerous teams around the league.

The Minnesota Vikings are an interesting option. They drafted Xavier Rhodes in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft and he played pretty well as a rookie. Outside of that, the Vikings don’t have a whole lot at corneback. They signed Captain Munnerlyn earlier this offseason with the thought that he could be a spot starter. That’s not necessarily setting the world on fire. Minnesota is currently $11.8 million under the cap, which means it could afford to pick up Flowers’ contract.

This brings me to the San Francisco 49ers. It’s not a secret that they have been targeting a cornerback in free agency and will likely pick one early in the draft. The losses of Tarell Brown and Carlos Rogers to the Oakland Raiders means that this has become a pretty big need. While San Francisco is currently only $4 million under the cap, it is going to be pick up a nice chunk of cap room when Rogers’ contract comes off the books next month. Interestingly enough, that’s pretty much the same amount of money that Flowers is set to make in 2014. San Francisco also boasts 11 total picks, including six in the first three rounds, in the draft later this week.

As is the case with every potential deal, everything needs to come together. The compensation needs to be right for both sides, while the team on the receiving end of the veteran needs to find room under the salary cap. In this, both Minnesota and San Francisco seem to make sense. With that said, neither team is going to offer Kansas City a great bounty in return. As I mentioned before, this is one of the deepest draft classes in recent NFL history. A third-round pick, upon which San Francisco has three, is likely valued as a second rounder in years past. That’s going to be the major hiccup when Flowers, among other veterans, are brought up in trade talks.

Photo: Ron Chenoy, USA Today

All contract information provided by Spotrac

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