The New England Patriots' contract negotiations with free agent Trey Flowers will almost undoubtedly be affected by how many other star pass-rushers actually hit the open market.
Players like the Kansas City Chiefs' Dee Ford and Dallas Cowboys' DeMarcus Lawrence might be worth a bigger salary than Flowers in a vacuum, but it seems increasingly likely that both players will be hit with the franchise tag, whether they like it or not.
CBS Sports analyst Joel Corry believes that the field of available, impactful pass-rushers being whittled by the franchise tag will make Flowers “the belle of the ball” once free agency officially begins on March 11th:
“He's going to be the ‘belle of the ball' when it comes to young pass-rushers,” he said of Flowers on The Next Pats Podcast, per Pro Football Talk. “I expect Dee Ford, Frank Clark, Jadeveon Clowney and Demarcus Lawrence to get franchised. [Flowers] didn't have the sack numbers that those guys did, but I don't really look at sacks as indicative of pass-rush ability. He had 64 quarterback pressures during the regular season. That was tied with Frank Clark and one more than Lawrence had and five more than Clowney had.”
Correy also notes that two teams in need of help rushing the quarterback, the Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins, both coached by former New England defensive coordinators, could help artificially inflate Flowers' price tag.
The fourth-year pro notched career-highs of seven-and-a-half sacks and three forced fumbles last season, also finishing with 57 tackles.
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