- The Cincinnati Bengals have announced that the team has traded LB Marquis Flowers to the New England Patriots for a seventh-round draft selection in the 2018 draft. Flowers was a sixth-round draft pick of the Bengals in 2014, but has played just 96 regular season snaps since then, 94 of which came in his rookie year.
- Flowers has seen significant preseason action in each year of his NFL career, but his grades have been up and down. He currently has a solid overall PFF grade of 74.9 for this preseason, but he has played under 20 snaps in each of the past two outings working with the backups.
- Run defense has been the better-graded area of his game. This preseason he has been targeted five times in coverage, allowing a reception on all give passes for 42 yards and a touchdown, yielding a passer rating of 141.3 when thrown at. A 2018 seventh-round pick is about the lowest form of trade compensation you can find, so Flowers is very much a long shot to make the team.
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