In my opinion the Pats could've made a better effort to keep Flowers, hell yeah he is that good. We always complain that we don't have a shot at top players in the top 15 of the draft, then we develop a guy that is just as good as what is projected for those stellar DE's then we let him leave, a proven player, also, the guy is a class act, not a thug who make threats about holding up for money.
If the money is really 16/17 per year, that's not even an overpay. That's a fair money for a guy like him, I thought some team would be willing to throw 20Mi at him, that would be an overpay but you never know, the contracts are going up every year, there is no recession. 15mi would be a discount, some mentioned his value is 13/14, I think you guys are out of touch regarding the NFL FA market and tendencies for teams signing certain free agents.
Another factor, Flowers is going to only get better, as a matter of fact I think he is gonna become a monster DE and this is going to be Akiem Hicks to the 10th power. I don't think he is gonna sit on that contract, he wouldn't playing for the Patriots, now in a disfunctional franchise like the Lions you never know, he probably becomes a cap issue if they stay mediocre 2 or 3 years down the road. On the Pats his value would stay on the top of the market barring injuries.
I love BB's philosophy and I would rather not having big signings in FA and competing for the SB every year than the opposite, but the times of discounts are over, we are not going to be able to retain players below market value anymore. Brady is on a discount, Gronk is on a discount, Edelman is on a huge discount, McCourthy signed for top of the market so did Gilmore. The elephant in the room is signing a right guard for top of the market, but that is for other thread (I think it's time to extend Thuney and I'm gonna open a thread specific for that discussion).
I don't know, make some moves but gotta find a way to keep a special player like Flowers, still young, going to hit his prime, he is only 25 and played only 3 seasons, the 1st one was a redshirt year for him.