Patriots To Sign DE Trey Flowers

AUGUST 8: Flowers’ second visit will result in a reunion. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports (via Twitter) a deal has been agreed to, allowing the veteran to return to where his career began.

AUGUST 7: For the second time this year, the Patriots arranged a meeting with Trey Flowers. The former standout New England edge rusher visited with the team in March, and Mike Reiss of ESPN.com tweets he was in Foxborough for a Monday workout.

Flowers, who will turn 30 this week, spent last season with the Dolphins. The Lions moved on from his big-ticket 2019 contract — one authorized during Matt Patricia‘s run as the team’s HC — during the 2022 offseason. Flowers played just four games with the Dolphins, making just four tackles and tallying one quarterback hit.

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The Patriots have received by far Flowers’ best work. The former fourth-round pick operated as the top edge defender on the Super Bowl-bound 2017 and ’18 teams, totaling 14 sacks and 45 quarterback hits in that span. As they often do, the Pats passed on a big free agency payment to retain the emerging talent, letting the Lions follow through on a five-year, $90MM contract.

Injuries heavily impacted Flowers’ Detroit tenure; he missed 19 games between the 2020 and ’21 seasons. Flowers suffered a season-ending foot injury in October of last year. But the Pats are taking a look at Flowers’ form; the two visits certainly indicate interest. As the returns of Jamie Collins and Kyle Van Noy most recently illustrate, the Pats are not averse to bringing back key performers on lower-cost deals.

New England has a locked-in Matt Judon–Josh Uche edge-rushing duo atop its depth chart, and the team also returns Deatrich Wise. A Flowers addition would crowd the Pats’ edge group, considering the team used a second-round pick to select Georgia Tech’s Keion White in April. But the team is kicking the tires on the eight-year veteran.