Pewter Report’s 2023 7-Round Bucs Mock Draft

As much as the Bucs missed Pro Bowl left guard Ali Marpet and future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski last year, what Tampa Bay’s offense might have missed the most was Antonio Brown’s speed and ability to separate. Flowers is one of the fastest, quickest receivers in this year’s draft class. His game is reminiscent of AB with a little bit of Tyler Lockett thrown in for good measure. Brown is 5-foot-10, 185 pounds, while Lockett is 5-foot-10, 182 pounds.

Brown put up Hall of Fame-caliber numbers in his career and helped Tampa Bay win Super Bowl LV. All Lockett has done in the NFL is make the All-Pro team three times, and record 1,000 yards in each of his last four seasons, while averaging nine touchdowns per year over that span.

Flowers caught 200 passes for 3,056 yards (15.3 avg.) with 29 touchdowns playing in a less than average Boston College offense that had a lot of injuries and inconsistency at the quarterback position. Those numbers are very similar to the 249 career receptions for 3,710 yards (14.6 avg.) and 29 TDs that Lockett put up in college at Kansas State.

Flowers’ Receiving Stats
2019: 22 rec. 341 yards (15.5 avg.), 3 TDs
2020: 56 rec. 892 yards (15.9 avg.), 9 TDs
2021: 44 rec. 746 yards (17.0 avg.), 5 TDs
2022: 78 rec. 1,077 yards (13.8 avg.), 12 TDs

Flowers’ Rushing Stats
2019: 27 carries, 195 yards (7.2 avg.), 1 TD
2020: 11 carries, 41 yards (3.7 avg.), 1 TD
2021: 7 carries, 69 yards (9.9 avg.)
2022: 12 carries, 40 yards (3.3 avg.)

If the Bucs decide to move on from the disappointing Russell Gage this offseason, Flowers could step in as an immediate starting flanker (Z receiver) in Tampa Bay’s three-receiver sets. Pro Football Focus rates Flowers as the 19th-best prospect in the draft and the second-best receiver behind TCU’s Quentin Johnson and ahead of Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba and USC’s Jordan Addison.

PFF writes: “Flowers is the best pure separator in the draft class. A defensive back just isn’t going to stick with him across on his route breaks unless they’re holding him. He racked up 1,077 yards and 12 scores in 2022.”

Flowers is one of the draft’s better deep threats with 12 deep catches per PFF, and 500 deep receiving yards. He does a great job of tracking the ball down the field on deep passes. The shifty receiver has the speed to take the top off the defense as well as the elusiveness to get plenty of YAC on short and intermediate routes.

Flowers does need to work on catching the ball cleaner, evidenced by an uncharacteristic nine drops last year. But he also won seven contested catches in 2022 and plays bigger and tougher than his 5-foot-9 size would indicate.

In a day and age when the transfer portal allows players (like Addison) the chance to leave their school for greener gas elsewhere, Flowers showed the loyalty and resolve to stick it out at Boston College, which has impressed NFL scouts. Flowers has a high level of maturity and is an NFL-ready receiver from the mental side of football, and that’s part of the reason why he’s the top pick in Pewter Report’s first Bucs mock draft.