.png)
By Tanya Ray Fox
August 21, 2018
Trey Flowers has been a rising star on the New England Patriots defense since he joined the starting rotation in 2016, going on that season to contribute 2.5 sacks in their thrilling Super Bowl LI victory over the Atlanta Falcons. In fact, he’s been one of their best players over the last two seasons — and his productivity and effort has earned him the admiration of Bill Belichick.
The head coach was damn near effusive while talking to the media on Monday about Flowers’ leadership among the defensive ends.
“Yeah Trey’s great… he does an outstanding job with his teammates at that position. He hasn’t had a lot of practice time this year but when he does, and the opportunities he has in meetings and things like that, he’s a great example for them. If they just watch what he does and do what he does, you couldn’t do much better than that.
“But yeah, all those guys do a really good job of helping their teammates – you know, telling them what they did wrong or showing them what they do that works for them, along with the coaches who obviously are very good at instructing the players as well.”
The 25-year-old was taken by the Patriots with the 101st pick in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, and he earned an impressive 87.8 grade for his 2017 season from Pro Football Focus, making him the third-highest graded defender from his draft class behind Adrian Amos (Bears) and Landon Collins (Giants), both safeties.
Even more impressively, his 13.5 sacks over the last two seasons leads the team by a large margin, so Flowers’ consistency will be paramount as they try to build a new and improved pass rush in 2018.
