D the fact is though that everyone fails in their evals at some point, but the difference between Shannon and Golden is Golden is sticking to a strategy of what they are looking for. Flowers does not fit into what they are looking for - he's not a QB, he's not fast enough to play man to man at corner, and he doesn't fit the size we look for at safety. To me he is a very similar player to Dallas Crawford, who is a great special teams and role player but whose spot do you want to replace in the class for a role player? There are tons of players who you could say "aren't the biggest or fastest but just make plays", but the reality is only a handful of those guys pan out at this level.
I hear what you are saying and I believe in the staff. But I disagree with them here.
1) Flowers has good size for a safety. He was a legit 6'0, 203 pounds at the NIKE SPARQ Combine with long arms and big hands. I know they are trying to go after the Bush/Jenkins/Carter prototype, but there's no need to go to extremes. LSU pumps out freak DBs and their best guy was 5'9, 185 pounds running 4.5. Flowers, like Mathieu, is very physical and is one of those guys who is just natural at all aspects of the sport. He punts, he throws, he runs, he tackles. He also has experience at safety, so it's not a major projection.
2) Flowers is bigger, more athletic and IMO more talented than Dallas Crawford. But that example is a good one. A lot of players have come and gone since February 2011, but Crawford is still here as a valuable member of the team. Crawford and Flowers have higher floors than a lot of prospects because of their versatility. Also the name Quinton "Winky" Flowers ups his chances of success by 32%.
Anquan Boldin's name keeps coming up, to be honest, I prefer the way Bobby Bowden played that one. If Boldin could handle getting beaten out by Chris Rix he could have handled Dorsey beating him out. Imagine that 2001 team with Anquan Boldin opposite of Andre Johnson.
Not saying Flowers is on that level, but he's in our backyard and wants to be part of the U. It will be frustrating if he ends up being a star somewhere else because he left a lot of clues in Miami.