Undrafted rookies who flash during training camp but don’t have a clear path to playing time will often wind up on a team’s practice squad to start a season – the stash and development method. But before that player can be signed to a practice squad, he has to clear waivers first, meaning any team can claim him and put him on their 53-man roster. It’s what the Colts did to land cornerback Kenny Moore II back in 2017 after the New England Patriots released the undrafted rookie from Valdosta State.
But sometimes, teams believe a player has such intriguing upside that they don’t want to expose him to waivers. That’s how the Colts felt about Flowers, the undrafted cornerback from Pittsburg State whose speed and athleticism showed up during training camp – but who also didn’t have a clear path to playing as a reserve cornerback or returner. The Colts lined up Isaiah Rodgers Sr. as their kickoff returner and Nyheim Hines as their punt returner going into the season, after all.
Flowers kept working behind the scenes, though, and his confidence in what he could do with an opportunity never wavered.
“Coming into this, I wasn’t even supposed to be here,” Flowers said in December. “You know what I’m saying? Coming from an NAIA or Division II school, I wasn’t supposed to be here. But I knew I was good enough to be here.”
That opportunity came at halftime of the Colts’ Week 12 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, when Rodgers suggested Flowers get a shot as a kickoff returner to special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone. Flowers scythed 89 yards on the opening kick of the second half, sparking him to a remarkable finish to his rookie year: