Patriots Show No Faith in Trey Flowers With Shocking Contract Details

Under Bill Belichick, the Patriots have always operated a specific way. They don’t value past performance and won’t pay for it. Rather, they only care about your current performance level and whether you can still help the team win.

Past Super Bowls, Pro Bowls and other accolades are nice, but they don’t mean anything to Belichick. He only cares about putting the best team on the field, regardless of what you did in the past.

Just ask Trey Flowers, whose new contract certainly isn’t rewarding him for his prior success in New England.

Trey Flowers Contract

Flowers reunited with the Patriots this week, rejoining the organization that he won two Super Bowls with from 2015-2018. His last four seasons haven’t been as productive, however, as he suffered from injuries and diminished performance after leaving New England.

The initial news of Flowers’ signing was quickly overshadowed by the revelation from Belichick that Flowers won’t be able to practice with the team right away and hasn’t played football in a while, suggesting he may not be able to contribute much (if anything) to the 2023 squad.

Flowers’ new contract reflects that uncertainty. It’s a one-year deal with a $1.165 million salary, but only $50,000 of which is guaranteed. Flowers can make more in incentives and bonuses, but it seems that the Patriots don’t have a lot of faith in him to bounce back based on that minuscule guarantee.

That may seem like disrespect or a slap in the face to some people, but New England is just being realistic. Flowers turns 30 this month and has appeared in just 18 games over the past three seasons combined. Expecting him to stay healthy and for his performance to rebound is quite a gamble, so the Patriots don’t want to be on the hook for too much money if he doesn’t work out.

Successful career aside, Flowers will have to earn a roster spot just like everyone else at training camp. Belichick isn’t going to give him special treatment or favor him because of what he accomplished five years ago. That’s especially true given that Flowers is vying for playing time on one of the best defenses in the NFL, so he needs to prove he belongs and won’t be a weak link.

Football is a business, after all, and Belichick is in the business of winning. His team has a lot of work to do if it wants to rebound from an 8-9 season and compete in a loaded AFC East this year, so he can’t afford to be overpaying old, hurt players for sentimental reasons — no matter how many championships they’ve won for him.

And if you want to back the long-shot Patriots to win the AFC East, you might want to do it on Caesars. They’ll award you a bonus equal to the amount of your first bet if that bet doesn’t win (anywhere from $10 all the way up to $1,250). So if you put $50 on the Pats to win the AFC East, you’ll automatically receive a $50 bonus if we don’t. This offer won’t be around forever though, so sign up now to back the Pats and cash in!