Tuesday's NFL: Former Lions DE Trey Flowers returns to Patriots

Foxborough, Mass. – Trey Flowers signed with the New England Patriots on Tuesday, returning to the team where he played his first four NFL seasons and won two of three Super Bowls.

The defensive end was placed on injured reserve after playing in four games for the Miami Dolphins last season and was an unrestricted free agent.

The 29-year-old Flowers has started 64 of 79 regular-season games over eight seasons since the Patriots drafted him out of Arkansas in the fourth round of the 2015 draft.

All nine of his postseason starts were with the Patriots, who won Super Bowls in 2016 and 2018 and played in the game in 2017.

He left the Patriots as a free agent in 2019 and signed with the Detroit Lions. Injuries limited him to 29 games over three seasons with the Lions. The Dolphins signed him last August, and he hurt his foot in the fourth game and didn't play again.

Rodgers calls out signals

Florham Park, N.J. – Aaron Rodgers was calling out signals during a recent walkthrough practice when C.J. Mosley spotted exactly what the New York Jets' offense was lining up to do.

It's an on-field chess match between the New York Jets middle linebacker and quarterback – and Mosley cracked the code in that moment.

“He looked at me and said, ‘What did you say?’ and changed the play,” a smiling Mosley said Tuesday, adding it has been one of the “coolest things” he has seen in training camp this summer. “And then I was like, ‘Oh, that’s different right there.' Just little stuff like that.”

But that has actually been the big stuff Rodgers has brought to the Jets since being acquired from Green Bay in April.

The 39-year-old Rodgers is building a rapport with the offense and looking to turn one of the NFL's worst units the past few seasons into one of its best. He's also helping the defense improve by keeping that side of the ball on its toes. Rodgers routinely huddles with defensive players to share things he noticed about something they did during a play – and wants to know what they saw of him and the offense.

It's a sharing of information the Jets hope only makes them better when the games start.

“The first day in OTAs (in the spring), he did one of his no-look (passes) and kind of took me off my position and threw the ball,” Mosley recalled. “So I was like, that’s another way that he got me better just by doing that. So now I’m just locked in on just being in my spots and kind of playing off him.”

That's coming from a 31-year-old linebacker who has been in the NFL since 2014. So imagine how valuable these camp practices have been for youngsters such as safety Tony Adams, a second-year player who has intercepted Rodgers twice this summer.

“It's kind of hard to get a jump on A-Rod,” Adams said. "He does a great job of looking you off, a great job of holding you. I also learned a lot from him. I've learned how quarterbacks kind of think, where the reads are coming from.

“Big credit to A-Rod. He's taught me a lot about how to play my position a lot better.”

And the teachable moments also come during mistakes, when Rodgers finds the hole in the defense and burns the defenders for a big connection to one of his receivers.

“You take it and you learn from it,” Adams said.

The Jets were a top-5 defense last season. These moments in camp while facing Rodgers have them focused on even bigger goals.

“I expect every person that comes here every day ready to be the No. 1 defense," Mosley said, "and ready to help this team win a championship.”

After nearly three weeks of going up against each other in practices, the Jets are traveling to Spartanburg, South Carolina, for two joint sessions with the Carolina Panthers before the teams square off in a preseason game Saturday night.

Jets coach Robert Saleh (Dearborn) has said he thinks there's more value in the controlled environment of those combined practices than in the exhibition games. None of the established starters played in the Hall of Fame game against Cleveland in Canton, Ohio, last Thursday, and few, if any, are expected to suit up against the Panthers.

“It's a practice, but it's going to feel like a scrimmage,” Mosley said. “Just being a part of these joint practices before, at the end of the practice, it felt like a game.”

After lining up against Rodgers this summer, the Jets' starting defense will get a look at Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in April who's expected to start for the Panthers this season.

“It's going to be an early test for us as a unit to see where we stand on communications, on when we see another team, we see another color, how can we stay focused and how can we keep communicating?” Mosley said. “It's all the things we've been building these few weeks and we can't let that slide just because we're going somewhere else and having a joint practice.”

Packers' Dillon eager to rebound

Green Bay, Wis. – Green Bay Packers running back AJ Dillon’s goal as he enters the final year of his contract is evident from the title of the children’s book he wrote in the offseason.

“Quadzilla Finds His Footing.”

Dillon, nicknamed “Quadzilla” because of his enormous quads that were measured at 34 inches last year, is set to become a free agent after this season if he and the Packers don’t work out an extension.

Dillon wants to bounce back after his production took slight dips last season.

“I think I just really need to play just a little bit more – it’s hard to put a word on it – but like passionate,” Dillon said. “I think I need to go out there and just play a little bit more reckless, so not trying to play perfect, not trying to play perfect football. Nobody does. Just kind of go out there and for a lack of words, kind of make defenses feel me.”

Then he elaborated on what he meant.

“Even though we might be running and there’s only 4 yards here to get, make it a hard 4 yards,” Dillon said. “Make sure the next time running the ball, those defenders feel that, they think about it next time, and just kind of deliver the blow a little bit more.”

He wants to stay in Green Bay, where he has made a home, started a family and emerged as one of the Packers’ most popular players. He received a key to Wisconsin's Door County after repeatedly singing the praises of the peninsula along the Lake Michigan shoreline that’s about an hour's drive from Green Bay.

Dillon also is active on social media, which sparked one of his latest ventures. After he suggested that he'd write a children’s book, the positive feedback he received caused him to go ahead and do it.

Quadzilla, his book’s protagonist, is a dinosaur who struggles to do some of his monster friends’ favorite activities before eventually succeeding in football.

“We kept everything in house,” Dillon said. “We got a Milwaukee publisher, a Milwaukee illustrator and it was all Wisconsin central. It was a lot of fun doing it and putting it together. It was a goal to get it done before camp, and we did that.”

Dillon savors the feedback he’s received, both from his own mother and from the children and parents who have read the book.

“My mom’s a teacher,” said Dillon, who grew up reading Greek mythology and the novels of Rick Riordan. “She’s now an assistant principal back in Connecticut in my hometown. That’s something that was always big in our household. When I told her I was writing a book and actually went forward with it, she got very emotional.

“I didn’t really realize until I did some of these book readings and kind of seeing the kids really listening and hanging on to every single word.”

Writing that book was part of a busy offseason for Dillon.

Dillon and his wife, Gabrielle, got married last year in Door County. They welcomed a son, Trey, on May 2. That also happened to be Dillon’s 25th birthday.

During a year when he was adjusting to fatherhood and making sure his book got finished, Dillon still devoted plenty of time to football. The trade of four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers means the Packers may have to lean more heavily on the running back tandem of Aaron Jones and Dillon.

Dillon rushed for 770 yards, gained 4.1 yards per carry and caught 28 passes for 206 yards last season. A year earlier, he rushed for 803 yards, gained 4.3 yards per carry and caught 34 passes for 313 yards.

When he had free time this offseason, Dillon occasionally watched tapes of his highlights at Boston College, where he rushed for 4,382 yards over three seasons. Dillon wants to have the same attitude he had then.

“I’m not satisfied with really how I performed last year,” Dillon said. “Let’s look back at when I have been really successful and how I approached the game and, yeah, looking back a little bit, looking back at those highlights, going back to what was my mindset when I was in college when I was dominating the ACC, what was that like and trying to just get to that mindset.”

Dillon’s teammates have noticed a change.

“He’s more focused,” Jones said. “He knows the playbook inside and out, so now he can play fast. But just his mental approach to the game, spending more time studying in that playbook so he can play fast and just homing in on the small details and then just him being confident in everything he does.”

That includes being assured enough to write a children’s book and get it published. The benefits of that offseason project are apparent every time parents tell him how much their child enjoyed his book.

“The fact that some of those kids are excited to go read, that’s a big deal,” Dillon said. “Coming from an education household, my mom being a teacher, I definitely understand how hard it is to get some kids to read. If we can put something in front of them that they want to read, it’s definitely nice to be able to do my part.”

Colts' Taylor continues rehab

Westfield, Ind. – Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor did not attend practice Tuesday as he continues rehabbing from offseason ankle surgery while he continues to seek a contract extension or a trade.

Coach Shane Steichen did not provide a timetable for Taylor's return though he said the hope was Taylor would practice before Indy concludes its workouts next week at Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana, about a 30-minute drive from team headquarters.

While he has spent the past two weeks on the physically unable to perform list, Taylor had been a regular around the field and in team meetings – until Tuesday, which prompted speculation about whether he was even at Indy's training camp complex.

“This is part of his rehab process. If you guys don’t see him out here, it’s part of his rehab," Steichen said before being asked whether Taylor was working onsite or at another venue. "I’ll refrain from getting into that.”

Steichen also has avoided talking about Taylor's contract. The former New Jersey prep star is scheduled to make roughly $4.3 million this season, the final year on his rookie contract.

But Taylor is one of several prominent running backs who have publicly complained about how teams value running backs in today's NFL. They believe the $10.1 million franchise tag, the lowest for any position other than punters and kickers, is far too low for players who often touch the ball hundreds of times per season and incur some of the most punishing hits.

Team owner Jim Irsay responded with a social media post in which he noted the league's collective bargaining agreement was negotiated in good faith while contending agents are acting in bad faith. Taylor's agent, Malki Kawa, wrote back it was bad faith not to re-sign the team's top offensive player.

Following that flurry, Irsay and Taylor met for one hour on the owner's motorhome while Taylor's teammates practiced the first Saturday night of camp.

“It was just a good conversation and, you know, hopeful going forward,” Irsay said at the time. “We’re looking forward to a great season, hoping that Jonathan’s a big part of that and I think we had a good conversation.”

The trade request went public shortly after the meeting and Irsay then said he would not deal him before the season – or at the October trade deadline – and neither side has indicated anything has changed since that night.

Taylor topped the 2,000-yard mark twice in college at Wisconsin and rushed for 2,980 yards and 29 TDs in his first two NFL seasons. He was a unanimous All-Pro selection in 2021, when he led the league with 2,171 total yards and tied for the league lead in total touchdowns with 20.

Last season, though, he rushed for 861 yards despite missing six games with an ankle injury. Indy is hoping a healthy Taylor will be more productive in 2023 and will help the Colts rebound from a 4-12-1 record last season.

"I think he’s in a good spot, and we’re going from there,” Steichen said. "We’ll see how it all plays out though. Again, once he’s cleared, he’ll be out here.”

Commanders' Young feels 'explosive again'

Ashburn, Va. – When Chase Young stepped on the field for the first practice of Washington Commanders training camp late last month, the brace was off his surgically repaired right knee.

Now the heat is on for Young to return to form in a contract year.

The 2020 No. 2 overall pick who won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year honor is now nearly two years removed from a torn ACL that derailed his NFL career and is ready to roll. After the team didn't pick up his fifth-year option, Young is in shape to try to earn another deal and live up to lofty expectations.

"I feel myself," Young said. "I feel good and I’m running around and I’m feeling explosive again.”

It has been a while since Young looked explosive in game action. Even before the injury in November 2021, the Ohio State product was off to a slow start to his sophomore season with 1 1/2 sacks in eight-plus games.

Surgery was complicated, involving grafting part of Young's left patellar tendon to repair the tear on the other side. He and his team of medical professionals inside and outside the team took a very cautious approach to recovery and rehab that caused him to miss the vast majority of 2022.

Coach Ron Rivera acknowledged it was very tough to hold Young back. Still, the Commanders knew it would be difficult to get Young back as a feared pass rusher last season.

“It was almost kind of a pie in the sky that he would be who he is,” Rivera said. "(We realized) it’s just going to be a matter of time. He had to work through those things (and) we were hoping he would get back soon, but it just didn’t work and that’s all part of it.”

Young played just 115 snaps over the final three games of the season, the last of which came after Washington was eliminated from playoff contention. The Commanders even without Young ranked third in the league on defense, led by fellow defensive linemen Montez Sweat, Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne.

The patience is paying off with Young, now 24, flashing some strong moves in camp and showing the benefit of time and experience.

“Chase looks real good,” Sweat said. "He’s starting to be more of a pro. He’s always been a pro, but I think ever since the injury as far as the cold tub and the pre-practice (routine) and the treatments after practice and just things and stuff like that, that’s why I think he’s upped his game a lot.”

Young and Sweat worked out on Ohio State's campus during the offseason, working with Buckeyes associate coach Larry Johnson. Young said it was about going back to “fine-tune the little things.”

He also talked to Buffalo Bills linebacker Von Miller and Baltimore Ravens receiver Odell Beckham Jr. about coming back from an ACL tear. That just gave him more confidence about what's to come.

“They said: 'We just bounce back. That’s just what we do,” Young said. "That’s my plan, and I guess y’all are just going to see what happens.”

The Commanders would love for Young to follow Payne's path to a productive season. After they decided not to pick up Payne's fifth-year option, the 2018 first-round pick out of Alabama led the team with a career-high 11 1/2 sacks.

Washington signed Payne to a $90-million, four-year contract. With big-money commitments to Payne and Allen already on the books, it might be tough to pay up to keep Sweat – also on the verge of free agency – and Young, but it's a gamble the team is hoping works out this season.

Rivera likes what he sees so far.

“It’s good to see Chase moving around the way he did,” Rivera said. “He’s lightyears ahead of where he was last training camp. I think that’s a big deal for us.”