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The New York Giants have announced that they have waived former starting offensive tackle Ereck Flowers.
The #NYGiants have waived OT Ereck Flowers. DETAILS: https://t.co/KkqxkqoFn4
— New York Giants (@Giants) October 9, 2018
Roster moves presented by @primepoint pic.twitter.com/ZMhGkWXCN2
News first surfaced Monday that the Giants were trying to trade Flowers, and failing that, they would cut him by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
There had been rumors of a team interested in trading for Flowers, but if there were indeed any such talks, they obviously fell through. Now Flowers will go to the waiver wire, and it wouldn’t surprise to see teams put in claims on the former first rounder.
The Giants drafted Flowers ninth overall in the 2015 NFL draft, and at the time Giants’ head coach Tom Coughlin said of Flowers, “The kid is an outstanding athlete. He is very young, as you know. He is a battleship, an aircraft carrier or however you want to describe him at six-foot-six, 329 [pounds]. Strongest guy in the draft. Outstanding feet. [He] just turned 21 a couple of days ago here in mid- to late-April. Those things, together with the desire to improve both our offensive and our defensive lines, to be honest with you, we think we have made a good start here.”
The move opens a spot on the roster and offensive line depth chart, and the Giants will reportedly promote OT Brian Mihalik to fill it.
OT Brian Mihalik will be promoted from the practice squad after Ereck Flowers' situation is resolved this afternoon, per source. Mihalik, who made two starts last season for the Lions, will become the swing tackle behind Nate Solder and Chad Wheeler.
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) October 9, 2018
Mihalik, 6-foot-9 and 315 pounds, played in 15 games for the Detroit Lions in 2017. He started twice at left tackle, vs. Pittsburgh on Oct. 29 and at Green Bay on Nov. 6.
The Giants viewed Mihalik up close when they practiced with the Lions for three days in August. He was released by Detroit on Sept. 2 and signed to the Giants’ practice squad on Sept. 13.
Placekicker Marshall Koehn added to practice squad
Coach Pat Shurmur had indicated Monday that the Giants would need to add a placekicker to the practice squad to protect themselves with Aldrick Rosas dealing with a quad injury. The Giants did that Tuesday, adding Marshall Koehn to fill the practice squad spot vacated by Mihalik’s promotion. Koehn was with the Giants in the preseason. Shurmur indicated Tuesday that the Giants will wait as long as possible before deciding whether they need to promote Koehn to the 53-man roster.