For six seasons, the Patriot Way was the only way he knew. Now, in his first spring under a non-New England coaching staff, Trey Flowers is reinventing himself as a football player.
Flowers, who is switching from defensive end to outside linebacker in new Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn’s scheme, said on Day 2 of mandatory minicamp Wednesday that he is excited about the transition.
“I’m definitely looking forward to it,” Flowers said. “Obviously, it’s something new. I’ve dropped back, but probably haven’t been as emphasized as it is now. But it’s something to learn, something new to learn so I’m willing to learn it.”
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Flowers has worked exclusively in linebacker position drills at minicamp, though he still will see time as a hand-down defensive end in sub packages.
He simulated a defensive end at times during seven-on-seven drills Wednesday, and dropped back into coverage on other snaps, where he admittedly remains a work in progress.
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“For me it’s just you got a lot of moving parts,” Flowers said. “People are kind of moving around there. When you got one job, you got hand in the dirt and you got one focus. That’s the easy part, what I’m used to. But when you get out there and you got guys moving or you got different type of route combinations, it’s just one thing that you just kind of — for me, I guess I got to kind off minimize my focus, pay attention to one particular thing to make it easier for me.”
The Lions are switching to a 3-4 defense full-time this fall, where they want bigger defensive linemen to control blockers and allow their off-ball middle linebackers to make plays in the run game.
Flowers, who missed nine games with a broken forearm last season, and Romeo Okwara, last year’s team leader with 10 sacks, will play as pass-rushing outside linebackers, where Glenn said their athleticism can be an asset.
“When you look at those two guys, I think with their skill set, giving those guys a chance to play on the edge, I think it helps those guys,” he said earlier this spring. “The thing I think that’s underestimated about both those guys, their ability to be able to play in space. I think they have the ability to be able to do that.”
A traditional right end the past two seasons with the Lions, and four years before that with the Patriots, Flowers had been considered one of the top run-stopping defensive ends in football.
He said how often he plays in pass coverage this fall likely will depend on the opponent and “how we’re trying to manipulate the scheme.”
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“I’m prepared to,” he said. “That’s why I’m working now to be prepared to drop back when I have to and when the play is called. But as far as how much, that’s up to the D-coordinator and what he thinks is best for what type of defense going against a particular offense.”
While the Lions bid farewell this offseason to many of the Patriot-style defensive additions (Danny Shelton, Christian Jones, Duron Harmon) they brought in under former coach Matt Patricia, Flowers survived for several reasons:
• He remains a top pass rusher on a team that still is light in that area. Flowers has nine sacks in 22 games with the Lions; backup outside linebackers Julian Okwara and Austin Bryant have zero sacks in 16 career games.
• His contract would have left the Lions with a sizable dead money hit of more than $16.8 million. The Lions’ highest-priced free agent signing ever, Flowers still has three years left on the five-year deal he signed in 2019.
• And for whatever limitations he might have in pass coverage, Flowers is the type of locker room presence Lions coach Dan Campbell wanted as part of his rebuild.
Campbell has talked often about culture fits, and at the end of Tuesday’s practice it was telling that he turned the team over to Flowers to break down the final huddle.
For Flowers, who was at the forefront of the Lions’ social justice movement in 2020 and was a member of their leadership council the past two seasons, that was a proud moment and a part that needed no reinvention.
“I’m a guy that prides his self on high character,” he said. “I do the things the right way and I just respect the game. With any team, you’re still going to get that same Trey Flowers that respects the game, works hard, put the team first type of guy.
“I feel confident going to any team, any group of coaching staff, whatever, and they’re still going to view me as that because that’s what I stand on. My character is not based on who I’m doing it for, my character is based on the principles that I grew up on. So it don’t matter who’s the head coach, who’s the GM as far as where I’m at, you’re still going to get a high character guy that represents his self in the highest regards.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.