INDIANAPOLIS — Trey Flowers is set to become an unrestricted free agent on March 13, and he still might return to the Patriots. The Patriots appreciate how good of a player Flowers has become, how hard he works in practice and the weight room, and how well he can fit in their defense.
The problem for the Patriots is that as Bill Belichick’s coaching tree has blossomed, several other teams have the same inside scoop on Flowers.
Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn in Detroit know all about Flowers. So does Brian Flores in Miami. Mike Vrabel and Jon Robinson in Tennessee already have signed several ex-Patriots over the last two years. There’s also Bill O’Brien in Houston, Jason Licht in Tampa Bay, and Thomas Dimitroff and Scott Pioli in Atlanta.
All spent significant time in New England before becoming bosses elsewhere, and all brought many of the lessons they learned in Foxborough to their new teams.
“There’s a lot of us,” Robinson said.
“It’s something we kind of talk about, but we really can’t control what they’re evaluating and what they think,” Quinn said.
When I asked many of the men above if they felt they were going to be battling each other (and the Patriots) for the same types of players, most tried to downplay or deflect it.
“Possibly, yeah,” Licht said.
“Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe,” Robinson said. “I’m not privy to their free agent board or their draft board.”
“I think everybody’s just trying to sign players that they feel gives them the best chance to win,” Vrabel said.
“There’s a lot of things that coach [Dean] Pees in Tennessee is doing differently than coach [Paul] Pasqualoni is doing in Detroit,” Quinn said. “The style of players, maybe, but specifically I think there’s lots of differences.”
That’s true, but many of the philosophies will be the same. The Lions and Dolphins both try to be a “game-plan specific” defense that changes week to week, like the Patriots do. They will be looking for defensive ends that can set the edge more than rush the passer. They will want tight ends that can block in the run game, quick slot receivers that excel in the three-cone drills, and massive offensive linemen that can overpower defenders, just like the Patriots do.
Don’t be surprised if more than a few 2018 Patriots end up with the 2019 Lions, Dolphins or Titans. Beyond the Patriots’ two elite free agents, Flowers and offensive tackle Trent Brown, the Patriots have several mid-level free agents such as defensive tackle Malcom Brown, receivers Chris Hogan and Phillip Dorsett, and cornerback Jonathan Jones.
Last year, the Lions signed former Patriots LeGarrette Blount and Ricky Jean-Francois. The Titans in the last two years have signed Logan Ryan, Malcolm Butler, and Dion Lewis. Flores has five ex-Patriot coaches on his staff in addition to himself, and according to one report out of the NFL Combine, the Dolphins are the favorites to sign Flowers.
What type of players is Flores looking for?
Players who “bring the leadership and the toughness and the intelligence that we’re looking for,” he said. “I don’t care where that player comes from. Hopefully we’ll find a good number of them this week. It’s all part of the process.”
And what type of players does Quinn want in Detroit?
“We’re trying to get guys that are versatile players that are going to have to learn more than one position,” he said.
Sound familiar?
When I asked Patricia about the competition, he said it was “a great question” and conceded that he has seen it happen before.
“It’s something I remember probably in the mid-2000s, kind of the same situation sort of came up, and some of the schemes were the same,” Patricia said.
In the mid-2000s, Eric Mangini was running the Jets, Romeo Crennel was running the Browns, Nick Saban was in Miami, and then Josh McDaniels went to Denver.
Patricia thinks the competition now between the Patriots, Lions, Titans, Dolphins, and others is similar, but not quite as intense.
“I would say there’s probably more of a variance now than there was back then,” he said. “Some of the schemes were exactly the same, so they were looking for the same bodies and the same people. Now I would say everyone’s kind of learned and shifted a little bit.”
For a neutral voice, I asked Seahawks general manager John Schneider if teams with familiar front offices often compete for the same players.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he said. The past few years, Schneider found himself competing with his former colleagues with the Packers, especially during the draft.
“I do the same thing with Cleveland. I used to work with John Dorsey. Reggie McKenzie was in Oakland,” Schneider said. “You just know who your competition is, what kind of players they’re looking for.”
The competition from Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Houston may not be quite as fierce. Licht, O’Brien, and Dimitroff/Pioli left New England several years ago, and have incorporated other schemes and concepts into their football teams. But they’ll still certainly be crossing paths with the Patriots on the scouting trail.
“We may have some of the same similar tactics in terms of how we scout, but we have different coaches and different schemes. You have to take that into account,” Licht said.
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin