5 burning questions the Patriots must answer in 2019

4. How will the Patriots replace Trey Flowers?

The Patriots’ other big loss came at defensive end, when Trey Flowers departed for a big contract with the Detroit Lions, reuniting him with his former defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia. Flowers, who is just 25 years old, had a huge season for New England in 2018, recording 7.5 sacks and 57 tackles.

Losing a player like that is a big blow for any defense, but Belichick has always drawn a hard line when it comes to player value, refusing to overpay for anyone. The Patriots have always looked to find a reasonable facsimile of their departed players’ production, and they are banking on filling Flowers’ spot in the lineup with veteran defensive end Michael Bennett.

The Patriots quickly traded with the Philadelphia Eagles to acquire Bennett, who racked up nine sacks in 2018 and has plenty of experience playing for winning teams. Bennett is 33 years old, significantly older than Flowers, but New England is banking on being able to utilize him effectively to help fill the void Flowers left behind.

There is a risk of decline with a player of Bennett’s age, however, so New England will need to have other players step up to assume part of the workload. One guy to watch in that regard is Derek Rivers, who hasn’t played much of a role to this point in his career.

Rivers was a third round pick in 2017 out of Youngstown State, so the Patriots are clearly hoping to get more out of him going forward. Between Bennett and Rivers, New England has to hope they can make a similar impact to the one that Flowers provided a year ago.