The Detroit Lions made a big commitment to Trey Flowers hoping to finally solve their woeful pass rush, but it hasn’t worked out for the best thus far.
Detroit has gotten some uneven production from Flowers early on in his tenure with the team, and that leads many to proclaim that he hasn’t exactly pulled his weight on the roster relative to what his contract is after signing with the team a few years back.
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Bleacher Report took a look at picking out the most overpaid players in the NFL for the 2021 season, and the Lions’ choice on the list was Flowers. The reason? At this point, the contract does not reflect Flowers’ production given the $90 million dollar pact that he made with the team.
Writer Kristopher Knox wrote:
“The Detroit Lions signed Trey Flowers to a massive contract two years ago that had the former regime’s fingerprints all over it. Former head coach Matt Patricia knew Flowers well from their time together with the New England Patriots, and Flowers capitalized in free agency.
However, Flowers has not lived up to his contact—with only nine sacks in the past two seasons—and is now trying to make the switch from defensive end to outside linebacker.
Flowers was solid in 2019, finishing with seven sacks and 35 quarterback pressures. However, he missed nine games last season and has not been the high-end pass-rusher the Lions were hoping to get.
Flowers needed to be a high-level sack artist to justify his $18 million annual salary. Ideally, the position switch will help him justify his price tag.
The Lions could part with Flowers next offseason, but it will be financially painful. He’s set to carry a cap hit of $23.2 million in 2022 and will have $12.9 million in dead money remaining on his deal.”
Obviously, those numbers aren’t great for the Lions, who need Flowers to put on a show in the next few years to justify the kind of money they are paying him. It’s hard to ignore how big the deal is, and for the Lions, that puts Flowers squarely in the pressure zone for the next few seasons.
Flowers’ Career Stats
Lions Trying to Jump Start Flowers With Position Change
Detroit’s new staff did not pull the plug on Flowers, and is instead trying to invigorate him with a positional switch. One of their most important pieces up front, Flowers hasn’t exactly always fit the bill in terms of production. The good news, though, is the Lions might be tailoring a scheme to fit Flowers’ talents a bit better.
Speaking to the media, defensive line coach Todd Wash talked about Flowers’ fit within his defense. As he said, he believes that using the edge rusher as more of an outside linebacker in base sets while using him as a defensive end in sub sets this year.
Trey Flowers playing OLB in base, DE in sub packages this fall, per Lions DL coach Todd Wash
Essentially, this means the Lions could put Flowers in a much better position to succeed. It’s possible the last few seasons that Flowers has been playing out of place in Detroit, so a return to being able to do what suits him best could be smart for the Lions and for Flowers.
Detroit wants to use more three man fronts this year, so expect to see Flowers moving around more than if his hand was simply in the dirt like in previous seasons.
Flowers’ Career Stats
It’s safe to say Flowers is coming into a huge season in Detroit for more than one reason. His massive contract makes him a bit of a target for those who want to see more production. In his Lions’ career, Flowers has 73 tackles, 9 sacks and just 2 forced fumbles. In his career, Flowers has racked up 30 total sacks and 237 tackles. Obviously, these numbers prove the talent is there, so being able to work Flowers into the right scheme and keep him healthy could be more the issue for the team at this point in time.
Flowers has looked overpaid for his production, but the team hopes the position switch can get him going in earnest. Will it help? That’s the hope in Detroit to take the edge off what was a whopper of a deal.
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