According to the Associated Press on Tuesday, the New England Patriots are bringing back Trey Flowers of Huntsville, Alabama. You could make the argument that Flowers was one if the Patriots’s most intimidating defenders at defensive end in the second half of the 2010s decade. He has since played linebacker the last two seasons in the National Football League and it will now be interesting to see how Flowers will be used by New England head coach Bill Belichick in 2023.
Flowers played his first four National Football League seasons with the Patriots from 2015 to 2018. In 46 games, he had 164 combined tackles (100 solo tackles and 64 assisted tackles), 25 tackles for a loss, 59 quarterback hits, 21 sacks, six pass deflections, five forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries. Flowers was also on the Patriots teams that won the Super Bowl in 2017 and 2019. In Super Bowl LI, a 34-28 Patriots overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons, Flowers was outstanding. He had five quarterback hits, six combined tackles (four solo tackles and two assisted tackles), two and a half sacks, and two tackles for a loss. Then in Super Bowl LIII, a 13-3 Patriots win over the Los Angeles Rams, Flowers had three combined tackles (two solo tackles and one assisted tackle), two quarterback hits and one tackle for a loss.
Flowers then spent three seasons in Detroit for the Lions from 2019 to 2021, before joining the Miami Dolphins in 2022. This past season with the Dolphins, Flowers had four combined tackles (three assisted tackles and one solo tackle) and one quarterback hit. The solo tackle came in a 21-19 Dolphins win over the Buffalo Bills on September 25.
