Former Lion Trey Flowers may have a team interested in him

Former Lions Trey Flowers has lingered on the market for awhile, but there may be a team with interest in him now.

Off of two injury-riddled seasons, the Detroit Lions made the clear and obvious decision to release defensive end Trey Flowers in March. Two months later, he remains available with very little surfacing regarding teams who may be interested. But that may be changing.

According to Joe Person, who covers the Carolina Panthers for The Athletic, the Panthers are looking to add a pass rusher (subscription required). In listing some of the notable pass rushers who are available, Sam Robinson of Pro Football Rumors mentioned Flowers while also noting he’s one of the few mentioned who’s under 30 years old.

Before playing just 14 games over the last two seasons, Flowers had a solid first season with the Lions in 2019 (51 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, seven sacks, 21 quarterback hits, 35 pressures).

Trey Flowers surely still has something to offer

Flowers had at least 6.5 sacks and eight tackles for loss in four straight seasons from 2016-2019, spanning his last three seasons with the New England Patriots of course, with at least 20 quarterback hits in the last three. He was a strained fit for Detroit’s shift to a base 3-4 in 2021, not that he ended up on the field enough to fully show it.

In the right scheme and role, and with better health than the last two years almost assumed, Flowers can absolutely still be a productive player. It was easy to lean toward history somewhere on a coaching staff to determine possible landing spots for him once the Lions cut him, including a return to New England, but nothing has come to fruition.

Questions about Flowers’ health have surely been the primary reason he’s still available. But that mostly just means he can be signed cheaply to a prove-it type deal, and if he’s been looking for more than that (another possible reason he isn’t signed) reality has surely hit now that we’re in May.

If Flowers were to sign with the Panthers, Week 16 on Christmas Eve would be his revenge game against the Lions.