Prior to being trade to the Patriots in August, not many people viewed Marquis Flowers as a linebacker. That included his old coaches in Cincinnati. The two seasons he played with the Bengals, Flowers played two defensive snaps compared to 618 on special teams. Prior to coming to Foxboro, he doesn’t remember ever talking to a defensive coordinator in the NFL.
FOXBORO — Marquis Flowers was walking down the hallway inside Gillette Stadium when the unthinkable happened — Matt Patricia approached him.
Prior to being trade to the Patriots in August, not many people viewed Flowers as a linebacker. That included his old coaches in Cincinnati. The two seasons he played with the Bengals, Flowers played two defensive snaps compared to 618 on special teams. Prior to coming to Foxboro, he doesn’t remember ever talking to a defensive coordinator in the NFL.
When Patricia, the Patriots defensive coordinator, approached him early this season, Flowers was stunned.
“I’ll never forgot, I was walking in the hallway and coach Matt Patricia came up to me and said, basically, to keep trying to get better and he likes me, believes in me, and really believes I can help the team win,” Flowers said. “That was the first time I ever heard that from a defensive coordinator since I’ve been in [the NFL]. I’m like, ‘Whoa, is he lying?’ Then I went home and it put even more [confidence] in me — like, ‘Come on, this is not where you’ve been. You’ve got a chance to help the team win.’ I can just say that coach Matt Patricia and coach Brian Flores, they believed in me.”
That belief led to confidence. That confidence led to Flowers turning into one of the Patriots’ best linebackers and biggest surprises of the 2017 season. The 25-year-old finished 2017 playing a career-high 283 defensive snaps. With the playing time came his best season ever, hitting career-highs in tackles (32) and sacks (3.5).
Flowers entered this season with just 15 career tackles and had no sacks to his name. All of a sudden, he’s one of the Patriots’ best pass rushers. With injuries to likes of Dont’a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy (earlier in the year), Flowers had an opportunity. That’s something he almost never got in Cincinnati.
“It’s honestly about opportunity. It’s really opportunity,” Flowers said. “It’s about coaches really believing in you and just a fair opportunity. Here, everyone gets a chance to show what they can do. When they show what they can do, they build on it and still want you to get better. They work on you still. I think the biggest thing is a coach that believes in you.”
Flowers had the best game of his life during the Patriots’ Week 16 win over Buffalo. He finished with a career-high 10 tackles and 2.5 sacks (surpassing his production from all of last season). The Patriots used Flowers, who’s very athletic, as a quarterback spy against Tyrod Taylor. The next week, against the New York Jets, he got another sack.
Then came last week, his first playoff game with the Patriots, and Flowers played 66 percent of the defensive snaps. Once again, his athleticism was used to stymie an athletic quarterback in Marcus Mariota.
Flowers finished with another sack, totaling 4.5 in the last three games. He said that his former Bengals teammates have been reaching out.
“It’s cool when you’re out performing and teammates from other places are like, ‘Yo, I’m happy for you. You’re helping the team win, you’re on a good team and that’s what you always wanted,’” Flowers said. “They see that and it’s kind of cool. I’m not letting it hit me yet because there’s still work to be done. Honestly, it’s kind of what you expect. When you work hard in the offseason and you train and train. I was fortunate to come here at the end of training camp. It’s everything you work for you. You don’t work for it to not help your team win.”
As the Patriots prepare for the AFC championship, Flowers’ skill set could again come into play as Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles has shown to be a threat to run the ball. If one thing’s for certain, Flowers won’t be used on just special teams.
He’s finally proved what he always believed, but what other coaches didn’t see.
“I definitely enjoy being here,” Flowers said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to be here. I’m thankful in the coaches that I got.”
Mark Daniels writes for the Providence Journal of GateHouse Media.