Trey Flowers expected to sign with Detroit Lions in free agency
New England’s top internal free agent, Trey Flowers, is reportedly set to cash in with a new five-year deal that brings him to the Detroit Lions.
According to multiple news reports coming from ESPN and the NFL Network, the New England Patriots are expected to lose their premier free agent pass rusher Trey Flowers to the Detroit Lions in free agency. The exact terms of the deal are currently unknown, though it’s rumored to be for five years and valued at more than $16 or $17 million per season. If those numbers are indeed accurate, Flowers could be looking at a new contract worth upwards of $80 million in total earnings.
Patriots DE Trey Flowers intends to sign with Detroit, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 11, 2019
It was always going to be a long-shot for New England to retain Flowers this offseason. He was identified by this site as the team’s No. 1 internal priority in free agency, so presumably Bill Belichick and the rest of the front office fought hard to keep him in the fold.
The reality, however, is that the NFL places an exorbitantly disproportionate value on pass-rushers in today’s league. So even though Flowers never had eye-popping sack numbers during his Patriots tenure, he still made enough of a mark on a high-profile team with plenty of people watching; in the end, that may have been enough to help him cash in with this new deal. There will always be those bottom-dwelling teams out there that are desperate for pass-rushing help wherever they can find it, and more often than not, those teams will pay a pretty penny if they need to.
Flowers will reportedly join fellow ex-Patriot defender Justin Coleman on the new-look Lions defense next season. Detroit’s head coach, Matt Patricia, is himself of course a former Patriot, having served as New England’s defensive coordinator from 2012-2017. Even before Belichick promoted him to the coordinator position, Patricia occupied a variety of roles within the organization from 2004-2012.
Notably, Lions GM Bob Quinn also has Patriots ties, having worked for New England in various front-office capacities from 2000-2015.
Flowers’ departure represents a significant blow to New England’s defense in 2019, even if that blow is somewhat mitigated by the anticipated arrival of defensive end Michael Bennett from Philadelphia. That move now looks prescient on the part of Belichick and the Patriots – perhaps they knew they wouldn’t be able to match any offer Flowers would receive on the open market, and that’s part of the reason why they traded for Bennett.
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Still, it’s another dose of bad news for New England on the same day they also learned that free agent left tackle Trent Brown plans to sign a four-year, $66 million deal with the Oakland Raiders. Even if neither move is completely unexpected, they both still represent significant hurdles the Patriots must now overcome as they move forward with their roster construction and re-imagining this offseason.