One offseason move each NFL team must make

Cleveland Browns-Sign DE Trey Flowers

The Browns are on a good track now, and 2017 No. 1 overall pick Myles Garrett emerged last season with 13.5 sacks. But the rest of the pass rush left a lot be desired, with 23.5 sacks for everyone else, and no other defense end had more than three sacks (Emmanuel Ogbah).

New defensive coordinator Steve Wilks should keep a base 4-3 scheme in place, so adding a defensive end (or two?) in that mold who can be a  threat off the edge is on the offseason agenda.

Flowers is heading into free agency off the best year of his career. Beyond a career-best 7.5 sacks, Pro Football Focus had him tied for third among edge defenders with a 90.4 overall grade during the regular season.

Flowers finished this past season tied for third in pass rush win percentage (18.5 percent, tied for third with Von Miller among edge rushers with at least 300 snaps played), with 65 total pressures to register the fourth-best pressure percentage (14.7 percent) among the aforementioned group of edge rushers (all via Pro Football Focus).

PFF has also graded Flowers very well as a run defender, with a top-five grade for 2018 (among edge defenders) and a three-year run defense grade that sits ninth among 61 qualifiers (at least 500 snaps over that span).

Flowers is not a prototypical speed rusher. ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss pointed to that as a reason his market value is hard to pinpoint, with the residual idea he may wind up returning to the New England Patriots.

But a defensive end who can get after the quarterback will have a market. So Flowers should have no trouble finding plenty of outside interest and ultimately a deal to his liking, be it from the Patriots or someone else. The Browns, with the fourth-most cap space in the league right now ($75.197 million), won’t be outbid easily if they want Flowers or any other edge rusher who hits the open market.