Trey Flowers is headed to injured reserve for the second time in as many seasons, and it’s possible Flowers has played his last game as a member of the Detroit Lions.
The Lions placed Flowers on IR Saturday because of a knee injury that has nagged him most of the season.
Flowers missed two games earlier this year with knee and shoulder injuries and was inactive the past two games for losses to the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears after aggravating his knee injury against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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The Lions (0-10-1) had previously ruled Flowers out for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, but the 28-year-old must now miss at least the next three weeks.
The Lions have six games left in the season.
Flowers, who is eligible to come off IR on Christmas Day, has 10.5 sacks in 29 games with the Lions since signing a five-year, $90 million contract in 2019 that made him one of the highest-paid defensive players in the game.
The Lions currently have about $169 million in salary cap commitments for the 2022 season, according to Spotrac, and will have a decision to make on whether to bring Flowers back, try and renegotiate his contract or re-appropriate the money due to him elsewhere.
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Flowers is due a $16 million base salary next season and has a $1.625 million roster bonus due in March. His cap hit for next season, under his current contract, is $23.2 million.
The Lions signed outside linebacker Rashod Berry from their practice squad to their 53-man roster, elevated linebacker Tavante Beckett and defensive tackle Bruce Hector to the gameday roster from practice squad, and added defensive tackle John Penisini (illness) to the injury report.
Penisini is questionable to play with an illness.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.