FOXBOROUGH – On Tuesday morning, Patriots Director of Player Personnel Matt Groh held his pre-draft press conference inside Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots have been around Zay Flowers quite a bit this offseason, between the East-West Shrine Game and then during a pre-draft visit to Foxborough. Groh was asked if Flowers is more of a slot guy or an overall receiver and here’s what he had to say:
“Depending on the offense, you’ve got to be able to move these guys around, especially a player like Zay who can do a lot of things. It’s easy to pigeonhole these guys. Well, ok, he’s a big guy, but there’s big guys that have been slot receivers. You look at a guy like Brandon Marshall, he made a living inside and did a really good job. I think there’s a certain type that certainly a lot of fans have seen around here with the smaller guys getting in and out of their breaks being inside. But, I think it was maybe 4.42 Zay ran at the Combine, so you’re talking about a pretty fast guy that can also stretch the field vertically on the outside.
“I don’t think Zay would want to be typecast as an inside or outside guy, so I’ll just say he’s a really good wide receiver.”
The Patriots hold the No. 14 picks in the first round of the NFL Draft that begins next Thursday. Zay will be in Kansas City as one of the players invited who is expected to go in the first round. Will he get to make the short move from Chestnut Hill to Foxborough? Hopefully.