Opinion: Trey Flowers won't be back next year

[zimmy]

Flowers is a very good player but he is seemingly better rushing inside. He reminds me a bit of Michael Bennett in that respect. A guy who doesn't dominate outside but can be moved around like a chess piece and can do many different things. If other teams are just going to line him up on the edge then they will be slightly disappointed in their return I feel.

In 2016, Michael Bennett signed a 3 year extension at $10.5m a year. That was about 6.76% of the cap at the time. That equates to $12.9m for the 2019 cap (assuming its $190m). The other guy I think he's similar to is Melvin Ingram. He signed a larger 4 year contract at $16m a year last season.

I would put him somewhere between these two numbers personally, at around $14m-15m a year. Whether that is enough to get it done I don't know - I'm banking in the fact that Trey and Bill share an agent. I'm slightly concerned that Miami and Brian Flores will come calling for him in free agency...

 

[Caretaker]

I'll be surprised if he settles for ~$15M and Patriots don't sign him. Hopefully they'll make room for him, his on-field value will only go up, as others mentioned before

 

[SBLIII]

Agreed. However I see some other sneaky good edge rushers on the market who might get undervalued.

Overall Flowers is a good player but the way some are talking about him you would think the Patriots franchise would be dead if he walks and he is Lawrence Taylor 2.0.

 

[luuked]

Agreed. However I see some other sneaky good edge rushers on the market who might get undervalued.

Overall Flowers is a good player but the way some are talking about him you would think the Patriots franchise would be dead if he walks and he is Lawrence Taylor 2.0.

I disagree. I think he is the best BB-type front 7 player we have had in forever.

He is extremely versatile and does it all on a high level. Or in other words he does everything Chandler Jones didn't do while still being a threat as a pure pass rusher. Which is why I am pretty optimistic that they will get an extension done and keep him around.

Of course if the market goes absolutely batshit insane and there is a bidding war (like with Solder) then things will most probably go into another direction. But more often than not it worked out for BB and Caserio to keep key players like DMac or Hightower around because they anticipated the market well enough. Flowers would not be much different imo.

 

[SBLIII]

I disagree. I think he is the best BB-type front 7 player we have had in forever.

He is extremely versatile and does it all on a high level. Or in other words he does everything Chandler Jones didn't do while still being a threat as a pure pass rusher. Which is why I am pretty optimistic that they will get an extension done and keep him around.

Of course if the market goes absolutely batshit insane and there is a bidding war (like with Solder) then things will most probably go into another direction. But more often than not it worked out for BB and Caserio to keep key players like DMac or Hightower around because they anticipated the market well enough. Flowers would not be much different imo.

He surely is a good player. I certainly wouldn't call him a dominant player though like a Watt, Mack, Miller etc.

I would love to have him back at 15 APY. But if this goes into truly elite pass rusher money, I would pass if I'm BB. I don't think he views Flowers as 18M-20 type player either.


Offering him serious money and a fair offer? Yes. Worth breaking the bank? No.

 

[RobertWeathers]

No, intentional tag and trade is no longer allowed.

$15M may be conservative. In fact I think the Patriots might come close to that range, like an offer that’s 13-14M and enough if Flowers wants to keep playing for a winner. I’m concerned he might get an offer for 17-18.

Any team that pays Trey $18m is dumb.

 

[everlong]

• Teams have an insane amount of free space doing into this year NFL 2019 Salary Cap Tracker
• Flowers is on every top 5-ish FA list out there.
• He's made big plays, not necessarily sacks in every big playoff game he's been in. As a DE he almost got out on a bubble screen and picked off Goff.
• Teams will look at Chandler Jones stats going way up once he was release from run support responsibilities.
• He's known as a team first guy.
• Teams will offer him money as a double win just to get him away from the Patriots. Colts, Jets...they all have a ton of cap space.
• Although not the sack master guys like Lawrence, Hunter and Ansah are he's a better all around player.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

I will say this and don't know if it matters but it's said Hightower's last contract was a "Steal". Other guys in Hightowers contact year got significantly more. My question: is Flowers a better player than Hightower?? Hightower was also a force in the SB similar to how he played in that SB against Atlanta. The more I think about it is the more I see Flowers walking . I don't see them giving him more than 13Mill to stay here.

You could very well be right and we don’t move off that 13 mil price offer (like solder last season). I’m just hoping that if the price moves to 15 per we end up matching. A few things 1)flowers helps this defense now and in the future as he’s just entering his prime, and this matches perfectly with Brady’s remaining years. 2)we have high priced players coming off the books in a year (mccourty, Gronk, possibly Hightower). Our cap room goes up drastically after 2019 with only Gilmore locked into a big deal.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Any team that pays Trey $18m is dumb.

And there’s a lot of dumb teams out there.

 

[DaBronxPats14]

And there’s a lot of dumb teams out there.

And one of them wears green in NJ*

 

[condon84]

I don't expect Flowers back. The market rate for a premier DE is insane...even if Flowers is a bit of a "system fit" for us (e.g. good at setting the edge vs. rushing the QB).

I am thinking....I'd rather a comp 3rd, Grady Jarrett FA signing, and betting on Rivers/Davis/Wise stepping up with some other FA help....

Disclaimer: I am drinking some good microbrew....

We'll find out how whether other teams view him as elite pretty soon.

He's a good fit in what we are doing but I don't know if the Pats will pay him like he's an elite player.

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

include

I'd pay pay him 15 Mill with the hike in cap 3 year deal.
I say you lock up Brown and Flowers convince Mccourtys to come back for less money.
Ryan Allen needs to come back had a incredible Superbowl.
Receivers can be replaced
Everything on offense hinges on what number 87 is going to do.

 

[luuked]

He surely is a good player. I certainly wouldn't call him a dominant player though like a Watt, Mack, Miller etc.

This is going to make some people tilt so let me highlight my POV clearly.. For our defense he is a better player than Chandler Jones or Von Miller. Is he a blue chipper like Donald or Mack ? Nope.

My point is only that the team will be more comfortable giving him a market level deal than they would have ever been with Jamie Collins or Chandler Jones.

But if this goes into truly elite pass rusher money

The thing about Flowers is that you have to have a versatile defense that does a lot of things to completely unlock his value. If you just put him into one position he will do a good job but nowhere near elite territory. His diversity is what makes him a great player. There are not too many teams that fit that bill.

Offering him serious money and a fair offer? Yes. Worth breaking the bank? No.

Like I said before.. of course if the market takes off into absurd territory it is a different story. But the team will have their internal valuation of Flowers and they will stick to that plus a little bit of a wiggle room if it ends up being close. Historically they are more often on the correct side of estimating the value of players before FA opens. So lets see where this goes.

 

[SBLIII]

I'd pay pay him 15 Mill with the hike in cap 3 year deal.
I say you lock up Brown and Flowers convince Mccourtys to come back for less money.
Ryan Allen needs to come back had a incredible Superbowl.
Receivers can be replaced
Everything on offense hinges on what number 87 is going to do.

hopefully we know something soon about Gronk/McCourty because we need to be under the cap on 3/13. Also if they intend to return do we let them play on their current cap number?

Might be decisive in our decision to pay Flowers or not.

 

[PatsFan2]

There aren’t many pass rushers in the FA that you can get, and in the draft it will take a while to develop someone. Flowers is only 25 and already playing like a top 5 defensive end.

Just my opinion, it would be a big mistake letting him go.

Not necessarily true you can find a eight sack Rookie DE in the Draft. That's not too far fetched and they might expect Big things from Deatrich Wise in a more expanded year three role. That said for every Geno Grissom there's is a Trey Flowers and for every Dereck Rivers there's a Deatrich Wise. One things for certain BB loves to Draft DE's he values them I can see him Drafting a couple again.

 

[luuked]

hopefully we know something soon about Gronk/McCourty because we need to be under the cap on 3/13. Also if they intend to return do we let them play on their current cap number?

Might be decisive in our decision to pay Flowers or not.

The last thing you need to worry with this team is the cap. They have already plans formulated for all eventualities. Even for potential retirements that we fans don't even think about.

 

[PatsFan2]

hopefully we know something soon about Gronk/McCourty because we need to be under the cap on 3/13. Also if they intend to return do we let them play on their current cap number?

Might be decisive in our decision to pay Flowers or not.

They both have Two more weeks to think about it and if they decide to come back they know it wont be at their current deals.

 

[SBLIII]

They both have Two more weeks to think about it and if they decide to come back they know it wont be at their current deals.

agreed. Their must be some deadline for them to decide.

 

[PatsFan2]

delete post please.

 

[SBLIII]

Lock up Malcolm Brown?? I would rather lock up a 7th Round Rookie for four years I think that Brown ship has sailed.

trent?