Getty Images Defensive end Trey Flowers has agreed to terms on a five-year deal with the Lions, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. It reunites Flowers with Matt Patricia, formerly the defensive coordinator in New England and now the Lions’ head coach. The Lions had a need at the position with Ziggy Ansah a free agent. Detroit used the franchise tag on Ansah last year, and he played in only seven games with four sacks. Flowers became one of the top free agents when the Patriots chose not to franchise him, trading for Michael Bennett instead. Flowers ranks third on PFT’s list of top-100 free agents, the top available free agent with DeMarcus Lawrence and Jadeveon Clowney having received the franchise tag from their teams. Flowers, 25, has had 164 tackles, 21 sacks and five forced fumbles the past three seasons. In three postseason games this year, he had six tackles, two sacks and six quarterback hits.<doc-sep>By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston BOSTON (CBS) — Heading into the “legal tampering” period of NFL free agency, some analysts suggested that Trey Flowers was the best player available in free agency. Not the best defensive end, not the best pass rusher. The best player. Period. While that point, like anything in sports, can be debated, the fact that the Lions were willing to shell out a reported $16-$17 million annual salary over five years to obtain the services of the 25-year-old does lend quite a bit of credence to the suggestion. And that shouldn’t be forgotten here in New England, in the wake of Flowers heading out of town to reunite with Lions GM Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia. The Patriots drafted and developed Flowers and then happily sat by idly, passing on the opportunity to place the franchise tag on him, and wishing him a fond farewell as he headed off to break the bank elsewhere. Typical Patriots. Typical Belichick. Really, while no two stories are ever the exact same, you have to consider how and where the Patriots acquired Flowers in the first place. The Patriots drafted Flowers at the top of the fourth round of the 2015 draft. It was such a noteworthy event that … it didn’t even warrant its own story on this here website. Flowers had to share those honors with Tre’ Jackson and Shaq Mason, both of whom were also selected in that same fourth round. As a rookie, Flowers played in all of one game. He was inactive throughout the season and was eventually placed on IR on Dec. 1. Rookie season over. No tackles, no forced fumbles, no sacks, no picks. No nothing. Not much was made of Flowers’ presence on the roster in the offseason that followed, and he was generally quiet through the first half of the 2016 season. Then, the Patriots and Flowers unleashed that untapped potential, and he broke out for seven sacks and 23 total tackles in the next seven games. In Super Bowl LI against the Falcons, he picked up 2.5 sacks on Matt Ryan, one of which helped push the Falcons out of field-goal range late in the fourth quarter. A star was born. Flowers put forth a solid season in 2017, establishing himself as a force on the edge and the interior, as a pass rusher and a run stopper. He did the same thing in 2018, making a critical sack of Patrick Mahomes in the AFC title game to push the Chiefs out of field-goal range before halftime and contributing to the New England defense holding the No. 2-ranked Rams offense to just three points in Super Bowl LIII. With that, Flowers quite quickly went from unheralded fourth-round pick, to mostly forgotten rookie, to suddenly being the best player available in free agency. And to be clear, the 25-year-old should remain a consistent, impactful player for the Lions. But as is the case with most every big-money contract in the NFL, it’s nearly impossible for any player to produce at a level that matches the dollar cost that is attached to these free-agent mega deals. With his official departure now set to take place on Wednesday, Flowers joins a long list of players whose value has been absolutely maximized by Bill Belichick and the Patriots coaching staff before that player is set free to make truck loads of money elsewhere. To wit: David Givens was drafted in the seventh round (253rd overall) in 2002. He did almost nothing as a rookie (nine receptions, 92 yards, 1 TD), but then contributed in big ways to back-to-back Super Bowl wins. Givens caught five touchdowns in the 2003 and 2004 postseasons, after catching six touchdowns in the ’03 regular season. In 2005, he ranked second on the team in receiving. It was time for him to make his money. Belichick let Givens make that money elsewhere. The Tennessee Titans, with a five-year, $24 million contract, were happy to oblige. Givens would play just five games with the Titans before tearing his knee; he’d never play in the NFL again. A close comparison to Flowers could be found in cornerback Asante Samuel, who was drafted in the fourth round by the Patriots in 2003. Early in his career, he contributed to a pair of Super Bowl wins. In his walk year, Samuel led the league with 10 picks. The Patriots, unprepared for life without the corner, placed the franchise tag on him for 2007, before letting him walk via free agency in 2008; the Falcons gave him a six-year, $57 million deal with $20 million guaranteed. Maybe the greatest examples of Belichick absolutely maximizing the value of players could be found in Malcolm Butler and Mark Anderson. Butler’s story is well-known, as he was an undrafted free agent out of West Alabama (Dont’a Hightower once said he had never even heard of West Alabama when he himself was playing at the real Alabama) who won the Super Bowl with a game-saving interception. Butler ended up working as the team’s top cornerback for several years, all while making peanuts relative to his peers. When it came time to finally pay him, Belichick was happy to let the Titans do just that, as Tennessee offered Butler a five-year, $61.25 million deal with $30 million guaranteed. (Pro Football Focus rated Butler as the 57th-best cornerback in the NFL in 2018.) Anderson joined the Patriots as a disappointing five-year veteran in 2011. He racked up 10 sacks for the Patriots that season, after he had recorded 13.5 combined sacks over the past four seasons. Belichick happily said bon voyage to Anderson after the season; the Bills readied a $19.5 million contract with nearly $8 million of guaranteed money. Anderson would play just five games for the Bills in 2012, his final year in the NFL. The other examples aren’t hard to find: Dion Lewis was acquired for nothing and didn’t make much money during his three seasons in New England, where he racked up 1,483 yards from scrimmage with 19 touchdowns in 36 games (playoffs included). The Patriots let him walk as a free agent, where he was given a three-year, $20 million contract by the Titans. BenJarvus Green-Ellis went from undrafted free agent to 1,000-yard rusher with the Patriots, carrying the ball more than 500 times from 2008-11. He massively outperformed his contract, and when it was time for a new one, Belichick let the Bengals give it to him — in the form of a three-year, $9 million deal. The list goes on, and it leads to the Patriots getting 55 games, 26.5 sacks and two Super Bowl wins from Trey Flowers, all while paying him a total of $4.15 million. Flowers will make more than $4 million from the Lions before Week 5 of the 2019 season. Why are the Patriots the Patriots? This helps. They paid Trey Flowers just over $4 million over four years. He'll make more than $4 million by … Week 5 next year. pic.twitter.com/HSRsTb4Cth — Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) March 11, 2019 It is, really, a tale as old as time itself — Bill Belichick squeezing every last ounce of value out of a player, watching that player make a whole lot of money from another team, and then going about his business as the architect of the most successful football franchise over the past two decades and perhaps ever. Belichick is, as always, on to the next one. That’s not to say that the story always ends poorly for the players involved, or that the Patriots always emerge without issue. Samuel went on to make a couple of Pro Bowls during a time when the Patriots really could have used a top cornerback. Lewis had his second-highest total of yards from scrimmage last season. The Patriots also don’t limit themselves from spending. They’ve paid top-of-the-market money to keep guys like Vince Wilfork, Devin McCourty, Rob Gronkowski, Stephen Gostkowski, Randy Moss, Logan Mankins and Jerod Mayo. Those decisions have worked out well. They’ve also spent heavily in free agency a few times: Darrelle Revis, Adalius Thomas, Rosevelt Colvin, and Stephon Gilmore come to mind.<doc-sep>The Telegraph Two of the surprise packages of this clay-court season have been British – initially Dan Evans, who made a deep run in Monte Carlo, and more lately Cameron Norrie, who played his second final in three weeks on Sunday. Unfortunately, Norrie wasn’t able to land a maiden ATP title in Lyon. But then he was up against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has been the dominant force of 2021 outside the slams, and now stands at No 1 in the table of most rankings points gained since January 1. Nevertheless, it had been a hugely creditable effort for Norrie to go this far, especially when you consider that he took out top seed Dominic Thiem on Thursday, and then trounced big-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov in Saturday’s semi-final, losing only two games in the process. Norrie has come to clay late in his career, but it feels like this is developing into his favourite surface. He has one of the heaviest left-handed forehands in the game, loaded with top-spin, and uses it like a miniature version of Rafael Nadal. The result has been a tally of 14 wins and only four losses since he began his European clay-court swing in Barcelona. So while the French Open, which starts next Sunday, has traditionally been a graveyard of British hopes, there are reasons to hope that this year’s event could deliver some more positive results. Norrie’s previous final in Estoril had been a nervewracking affair which he eventually lost on a deciding-set tie-break to the more experienced Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Sunday was more straightforward for Tsitsipas, who needed only 69 minutes to hammer home a 6-3, 6-3 victory. It was Tsitsipas’ second title of the clay-court sequence, after he won Monte Carlo in mid-April, taking out Evans in the semi-final along the way. He has become a serious contender to upset the establishment – specifically Nadal and Novak Djokovic – at Roland Garros over the next few weeks. “I felt in good shape from the beginning of the tournament,” said Tsitsipas afterwards. “I am proud of today’s match, I knew it would be a difficult one against Cameron, who has been showing great tennis this week. He has been winning against good players and showing what the left hand can do on clay. “It was not an easy match today. I had to handle the nerves and I am proud of my performance and the way I stayed focused towards my goal.” On this year’s results, meanwhile, both Evans and Norrie stand among the world’s 20 most successful men. Evans is at No 16 and Norrie No 14. The next challenge for them both is to convert that ATP Tour form into a deep run at a major.<doc-sep>
Allen Park — The Detroit Lions have scored one of the market's top players at one of the team's biggest needs. According to multiple reports, Patriots defensive end Trey Flowers will sign with the Lions later this week. It is believed to be a five-year deal, averaging between $16-17 million per season. Flowers all but confirmed the agreement on social media, responding to multiple Lions players welcoming him to Detroit. A fourth-round draft pick out of Arkansas in 2015, Flowers, 25, has spent his entire four-year career with the Patriots. He played the first three under current Lions coach Matt Patricia, who previously served as New England's defensive coordinator. "He comes in, will sit down and just want to talk to you about your family, see how you’re doing, see how everyone else in your family is doing," Flowers said about Patricia at the Super Bowl in 2018. "He builds those personal relationships. He’s a good man. It just makes you want to do the best you can for him." Despite modest sack numbers, peaking at 7.5 last season, Flowers manages to generate consistent pocket pressure, something the Lions struggled to do last season. While the team actually finished with 43 sacks, tied for 11th, the defense generated pressure on just 26.3 percent of passing downs, according to Football Outsiders, good for 29th in the league. According to Pro Football Focus, Flowers disrupted the pocket 64 times in 2018 and 59 times the year before. Romeo Okwara, who signed a two-year extension this offseason, lead the Lions with 39 pressures. Against the run, Flowers also is considered exceptional. He made a stop on 10.5 percent of all run plays, which ranked seventh among edge defenders, according to Pro Football Focus. That should only bolster a Lions run defense that flourished following the midseason acquisition of defensive tackle Damon Harrison. In the nine games after trading for Harrison, the Lions allowed the fourth-fewest rushing yards in the NFL. Opponents averaged 3.8 yards per carry, the second-worst in the league. One of the more versatile linemen in football, Flowers lined up all over the Patriots defensive line, including more than 200 snaps at defensive tackle. Reunited with Patricia in Detroit, Flowers likely will to do the same in Detroit. Former coach, Bill Belichick, raved about Flowers overall approach last year. "He does an outstanding job with his teammates at that position," Belichick said. "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 (his younger teammates). If they just watch what he does and do what he does, you couldn’t do much better than that." Flowers is also a relatively durable player. He missed the majority of his rookie season with a shoulder injury, but has been sidelined just three games the past three seasons. He reportedly had a clean-up procedure done on his shoulder this offseason. He played more than 70 percent of the Patriots defensive snaps last season. Flowers essentially will be replacing Ziggy Ansah on the roster. The 2013 first-round pick, who is recovering from a shoulder surgery of his own, will be playing somewhere else next season. When healthy, Ansah was a pass-rushing force, but durability was a significant issue the three years after he threatened the franchise sack record during a Pro Bowl season in 2015. The following year, he recorded two sacks in 13 games while battling a high-ankle sprain. A late-season surge that saw Ansah record six sacks the final two weeks of the season covered up his inconsistent and injury-affected performance in 2017. And Ansah missed more of last year with a pair of shoulder injuries, resulting in four sacks in seven games. Flowers is the crown jewel of Detroit's aggressive first day of free agency negotiations. The team opened the day by signing wide receiver Danny Amendola, who had been released by the Dolphins last week, and also agreed to terms with nickel cornerback Justin Coleman and tight end Jesse James. jdrogers@detroitnews.com Twitter: @Justin_Rogers