Patriots Reuniting With Super Bowl-Winning Defender

UPDATE (10:30 a.m. ET): The New England Patriots on Tuesday announced the signing of defensive end Trey Flowers, confirming earlier reports.

ORIGINAL STORY: A standout defender from the Patriots’ most recent Super Bowl teams is making a return to New England.

Defensive end Trey Flowers agreed to sign with the Patriots after working out for the team Monday, according to a report Tuesday from NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport.

The move reunites Flowers with the team that drafted him in the fourth round in 2015. The soon-to-be 30-year-old spent his first four NFL seasons with New England, winning two Super Bowls and playing in another while emerging as one of the Patriots’ top pass rushers and best all-around defenders.

Over his final three seasons with the Patriots, Flowers totaled 21 sacks, 25 tackles for loss and 59 quarterback hits, leading the team in all three categories by wide margins.

“Trey works extremely hard,” head coach Bill Belichick said in 2018. “He’s one of the hardest-working guys on the team. … He’s a very versatile and valuable player for us.”

Flowers left the Patriots’ Super Bowl LII win over the Los Angeles Rams to sign a five-year, $90 million contract with Matt Patricia’s Lions. But after a solid debut season in Detroit in 2019 (15 starts, seven sacks, eight TFLs, 21 QB hits), his productivity plummeted.

Injuries limited Flowers to just 14 games across the 2020 and 2021 campaigns, and the Lions cut him with two years remaining on his big-money deal. The Arkansas product spent last season with the Miami Dolphins, appearing in just four games and failing to record a sack.

The Patriots, who also hosted Flowers for a free agent visit back in March, will be hoping he can recapture the disruptive ability he showed during his first go-round in Foxboro, Mass. The versatile D-lineman will need to prove he deserves a spot on their 53-man roster.

Flowers rejoins a position group that features just two of his former Patriots teammates (Lawrence Guy and Deatrich Wise). Davon Godchaux, Christian Barmore, Carl Davis, Daniel Ekuale, Sam Roberts, DaMarcus Mitchell, Jeremiah Pharms, Justus Tavai and second-round draft pick Keion White round out New England’s D-line depth chart.

Flowers’ signing filled one of two open spots on the Patriots’ 90-man roster. It’s unclear whether the team plans to play him in Thursday night’s preseason opener against the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium.