When the New England Patriots acquired linebacker Marquis Flowers from the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for a seventh round pick, it didn’t really move the needle. Flowers was a special teamer and the Patriots were looking at missing both Nate Ebner and Matthew Slater to start the season with injuries. It made sense.
Over the past two weeks, the Patriots plan for Flowers has started to bloom (I’m so so sorry), with the 6’3, 250 pound linebacker seeing his snaps increase from 8 against the Los Angeles Chargers before the bye week to 19 snaps against the Denver Broncos and 32 snaps against the Oakland Raiders.