Bedard: Even with position shift, Flowers has priorities in order facing free agency

FOXBOROUGH — One of the worst phrases in the NFL vernacular is "contract year."

Sure, you can get a player who sees the dollar signs ahead of him in free agency and puts up a career season for the betterment of his (likely) former team before he leaves for taller stacks of green. That's the way it has worked many times for the Patriots like Dion Lewis, Mark Anderson, Logan Ryan, and Akiem Hicks, who all did their job, then left town.

But the flip side — players who carried an attitude into their contract season for, often, a perceived lack of respect by the Patriots — can often be much more of an issue and do more damage. Some think the petty money issues that routinely affect the other 31 teams don't happen inside Gillette Stadium, but they do. More than they realize, until it's too late.

Randy Moss was traded in the final year of his contract. Wes Welker had issues with contract (he signed his franchise tender, which chafed Bill Belichick) and left on poor terms. Jamie Collins had to be traded in the middle of the final year of his deal. And, of course, there's the worst-case scenario that transpired last season. Depending on your point of view and who you talk to, the contract stalemate between Malcolm Butler and the Patriots may or may not have cost New England a sixth Super Bowl title.

So issues with some players in a contract year are real, and they are not foreign to the Patriots.

This season, New England has a whopping 27 players headed towards unrestricted free agency in 2019. But all but one of them can be managed or won't be an issue (Shaq Mason, as a guard, isn't at a vital spot).

The one potential problem area for the Patriots? Trey Flowers.

And he has a confluence of factors that would normally lead to him being the biggest headache in a contract season. Not only has there not been much discussion when it comes to a possible extension, according to Flowers, but he's been told he's switching positions.

Because top free-agent signing Adrian Clayborn can only play on the right side due to his Erb's palsy, the Patriots have switched Flowers to the left side this spring. Flowers put up 13.5 official sacks (PFF has him for 18) and 121 total pressures in 30 games the past two seasons (an average of four per game) from mostly rushing off the right edge (73 percent of the time).

A position change for a player as productive as Flowers — in a contract year — would cause huge problems with 99 percent of players around the NFL.

But rest easy Patriots fans, Flowers appears to be the 1 percent you can believe in.

"Yeah, it can be (an issue)," Flowers told BostonSportsJournal.com this week. "But I don’t let it get to me.

"I’m not looking at as what’s my best fit for me. I’m looking at it as, 'What’s my best fit for the team?' I’m just going to make it happen."

With a lot of players, they might say those words ring hollow. Behind closed doors, the player is either complaining ... or his agent is doing it for him. But you don't get that sense with Flowers, who has always come across as the genuine article since he joined the Patriots. Despite the trappings of NFL life, Flowers has always stayed true to his humble roots as one of 10 siblings who used to work for his father's construction company in Alabama as a kid.

"It’s the same feeling as when I first came here -- just doing whatever can get me on the field," Flowers said. "I don’t look at it as what’s the best thing for me, I'll just make the best of it, and if it’s something I’ve got to do that’s not natural to me, then I’ve got to learn it. I’ve got to prepare well and work hard to get natural."

You might not think switching sides isn't a big deal — especially considering Flowers has lined up on the left side at times with the Patriots (that's the way Belichick would likely deflect any question about it) — but it is. NFL line play is all about leverage and handwork, and it takes hours and years of training to get that right. Players who mostly line up on one side often see their bodies transform to that strong side. Now, Flowers has to retrain himself. It's sort of like learning to write with your less-dominant hand.

"It can be tough. But it's nothing that a little work can't fix," Flowers said. "I just prepare my mind to know what the other guy is doing, what’s the whole scheme of the defense, rather than just one position. So once I prepare my mind and I just prepare in drills and my skill set that way to be able to have the same strength on the right and the left ... it’s just about the amount of preparing."

When it came time for the switch, there wasn't much discussion.

"It was a conversation that was had, but it wasn’t (something) where they asked me my preference," Flowers said. "They said this is where they need me, and that’s where I need to be.

"It doesn’t matter if they were going to tell me to play safety or guard or tight end — as long as I'm out there on the field, I was going to make it happen, and it's still the same way."

What happens if Flowers' numbers suddenly drop dramatically because of the switch? That's no way for a guy, who will have made a total of $3.482 million in his first four seasons, to head off into free agency.

"I think about it as everything will take care of itself as long as I go out there and prepare my body well and get some great production like I know I’m capable of doing," Flowers said. "I won’t look too much into things that come with being successful. I just look a lot at being successful each and every day."

As for the contract negotiations, which are likely to heat up before training camp, Flowers said he's taking that in stride as well.

"I don’t know what to expect, honestly," he said. "I’m just going to come out here and do my best, try my hardest to be prepared to make plays. When that conversation comes about, that’s when we’ll take care of that."

Just so we're all clear, Flowers' attitude toward all this is way out of the NFL norm. For most, no contract talks and a position switch entering the final year of a deal would unleash unhappiness, at least privately if not publicly. Yet here he is, a 2015 fourth-round draft pick, one season away from striking it rich, still having the same mentality he did as a rookie.

"That's not the way most NFL players would handle this," I told Flowers.

He shrugged, then gave a slight smile out of the corner of his mouth.

"Maybe, but that's just me," he said.