Entering his third season, the 23-year-old defensive end acknowledges that he'll likely be under more scrutiny in 2017 – both by opponents and his own teammates and coaches.

With more game experience under his belt, Flowers understands that there's more game tape of him for others to study, and he's loathe to let offensive linemen identify and exploit his tendencies. As a result, he stayed late on this particular day, he revealed, to work on countermoves, to try new methods of rushing the passer.

"You can never be satisfied," Flowers proclaimed. "That's one of the things I take pride in, to keep myself humble… I'm just a hard worker. It's not about being the last one off the field, it's just about perfecting craft if I see something wrong with it.

"Just want to be the best. That's what motivates me the most – to be the best person I can be, the best player I can be, give my team an opportunity to win games and be productive. That's all the motivation I need.

"Yeah, expectations are always high for myself," Flowers emphasized. "I'm a firm believer that no one should have higher expectations for you than yourself. I'm my own worst critic. I want the best out of myself. It doesn't matter if it's high for everyone else. It's definitely high for me."

With veterans Chris Long and Jabaal Sheard having departed via free agency this offseason, Flowers now finds himself in a potential leadership role, although he takes nothing for granted in terms of his job with New England's defense.

"Obviously, I know what type of role they expect of me as a leader and [to] be one of the first guys out [on the practice field] and lead the [defensive] line. But there are a lot of leaders still here. I'm just trying to get better each and every day."

Intensity heats up