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Pro Football Focus’
released their Top-50 players entering the 2019
season and the Detroit Lions’ defensive linemen Damon Harrison and Trey Flowers were featured on
the list.
“Snacks (Harrison) continued his reign over the NFL as the
league’s top run defender across what was a 17-game season for the seven-year
veteran having played seven games with the New York Giants and another 10 with
the Lions post-trade,” The PFF analysis team wrote. “He earned a 92.0 overall
grade and a 93.8 run-defense grade across his 606 defensive snaps split between
the two teams, ranking third and first, respectively, among qualifiers at his
position. He’s now earned an 89.9-plus overall grade and a 91.6-plus
run-defense grade in four of his last five seasons in the league – utter
dominance, if you will.”
Harrison was the catalyst that took an average defense and
elevated them into a top group. His PFF numbers are impressive on their own but
his impact had a ripple impact through the Lions defense and others around him
saw their efficiency improve with his presence.
“Trading for Harrison before the in-season deadline proved a
brilliant move for the Lions this year,” said PFF’s Josh Liskiewitz, “and
considering his consistent track record of complete dominance against the run;
the move should continue to pay dividends in 2019 and beyond.”
“Even though Bill Belichick & Co. were
reluctant to pay him his due to stay in New England, Flowers is still a premier talent in this league
and should very well live up to the expectations tied to his new five-year, $90
million deal with the Lions,” the PFF analysis team said. “Improving steadily
every year of his career, Flowers earned career-high marks in overall grade
(89.7), run-defense grade (84.9) and pass-rush grade (79.9) a year ago. He also
finished the 2018 season ranked tied for eighth in pass-rush win percentage
(17.4%) and sixth in pressure percentage among the 61 NFL edge defenders with
300 or more pass-rush snaps played.”
With the amount of money the Lions are paying Flowers, it’s safe
to assume they are expecting a Harrison-type impact on the Lions defense in
2019. Flowers familiarity with the Lions scheme will shorten his learning curve
and with his track record showing yearly improvement, we have likely yet to see
his ceiling.
“Flowers eats away at his good-not-great pass-rushing ability
with his run defense and versatility, specifically his ability to rush the
passer from ranging pre-snap alignments as mentioned above,” said PFF’s Austin
Gayle on
Flowers pre-free agency. “He’s a
movable chess piece with consistent, high-end play in several areas over the
years, a piece that teams should and will jump to move into their system
if given the opportunity this offseason.”
Flowers has the skill set to take this defense to another level
beyond where Harrison took them last year. Lions fans should be excited to see
how things unfold in the upcoming season.
