Rumor: Lions have 'reached out' to Brandon Flowers

Around the same time the Detroit Lions released cornerback Chris Houston on Friday, the Kansas City Chiefs released cornerback Brandon Flowers. Rumors of Flowers' release had been brewing for months, and after being unable to trade him, the Chiefs finally let him go last week, freeing up quite a bit of cap space in the process.

Since Flowers became a free agent, numerous teams have been linked to him, including the Lions. Actually, according to Aaron Wilson, they are one of the teams that have already "reached out" to Flowers.

Ten NFL teams, including Ravens, Vikings, Falcons, Lions, reached out to Brandon Flowers so far. In preliminary stage, according to a source

— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) June 16, 2014

Flowers is actually coming off a Pro Bowl season, although he finished 2013 with a -5.9 grade on Pro Football Focus (87th among cornerbacks). Even so, the 28-year-old cornerback has played at a pretty high level over the years, especially in coverage.

Even after a poor 2013, Brandon Flowers' +35.5 @PFF coverage grade in the last 5 seasons is the 5th-highest of any CB.

— Pete Damilatis (@PFF_Pete) June 13, 2014

The Lions clearly need cornerback help, and they could certainly do a lot worse than adding someone like Flowers at this stage in the offseason. There are questions about his height (he's only 5-foot-9), how he would fit in the Lions' new defensive scheme and how much it would cost to add him, but they are at least exploring the possibility of signing him.