DE Flowers rated higher than his peers
Not Von Miller, not Khalil Mack, not even J.J. Watt.
The NFL’s best edge defender midway through the season is … New England Patriots defensive end and former Arkansas Razorback Trey Flowers.
With eight weeks in the books, ProFootballFocus.com has ranked Flowers ahead of his peers with a 90.8 grade for the season. The fourth-year defensive end owns 2 sacks, 15 tackles and 1 forced fumble through 7 games played. Flowers has taken 55.8 percent of New England’s defensive snaps and more than 70 percent since he returned from a concussion in Week 4.
Bears Coach Matt Nagy, whose team faced the Patriots on Oct. 21, spoke to Flowers’ impact.
“He’s not the quote-unquote big-name guy, but he’s the bigname guy amongst the coaching world,” Nagy said recently. “So we know who he is and what he can do, and we respect him. He can hold the point. He’s quick, he’s strong, he’s fast, he plays in front of the quarterback.
“So we know that he’s a good football player.”
In Buffalo on Monday, Flowers had two tackles for loss and a couple of quarterback hits.
Flowers led the Patriots in sacks and QB hits in each of the past two seasons. His steady ascension should result in a major payday soon, as Flowers is set to hit free agency this offseason.
Shortly after fellow 2015 draft pick Shaq Mason received a five-year, $50 million extension in late August, Flowers said he was happy for Mason and did not see their contract situations as related.
“What he eat don’t make me … you dig what I’m saying?” asked Flowers, referring to a line from the Jay-Z song “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)”.
“That really don’t got nothing to do with me. I’m just focusing on myself,” he said. “I’m just working, man. I’m going to let that handle itself when the time comes, and I’m going to just keep working. It is what it is.”