Trey Flowers joined a conference call with local reporters on Wednesday. He wasn’t local, however; Flowers was at his home in Alabama instead of being in Detroit working out with teammates in the Lions offseason activities. Such is life in the time of COVID-19.
The Lions defensive end was asked about if he had any worries about getting back on the field once the NFL and NFLPA give the go-ahead. Flowers didn’t hesitate one bit.
“If they give the OK of playing football, we’ve got to go out there,” Flowers said. “I’m not one that plays with fear because you’re out there risking your life anyway just running into guys, risking injury, risking a lot of things. … If they give us the OK, I wouldn’t have any concerns or any hesitation about going out there wondering if it’s safe or not. We play a dangerous game already.”
Flowers sees no issue with taking proper precautions to protect the players from coronavirus, however. He trusts the NFLPA leadership and the league to make those correct decisions.
“But I feel as though there has to be a lot of precautionary measures in place. I feel as though the NFL, the NFLPA can kind of figure that out about what it needs to be a safe environment for the players.”
Some NFL teams have been able to open up facilities to a limited number of players and staffers. The Lions are prevented from doing so by Michigan’s quarantine restrictions.
Flowers echoes the sentiment from quarterback Matthew Stafford, who told reporters a week earlier in his own Zoom call,
“If they told us we had to start the season tomorrow and I had to fly to Detroit and put the pads on, I’d be happy to go do it.”