It should not come as a surprise that the Ravens looked to improve their passing game over the offseason because their passing game was such a disaster the previous year. It is rather incredible to finish with a record of 10-7 despite the fact that your leading wide receiver in yardage was Demarcus Robinson, who had only 487 yards for the season. Their first move was to acquire Odell Beckham Jr., who, with the exception of Rashod Bateman, is a significant improvement above everyone else on the team. Their second move was to choose Zay Flowers with the 22nd overall pick in the draft.
Flowers will be another instant enhancement for the offense, and his skill set is a good fit for the system that the team’s new offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, has implemented. Flowers saw this as soon as the playbook was delivered to him, saying, “Oh, I love it, it’s kind of like some of the stuff I ran at BC [Boston College].” I adore it. I believe that it complements my aesthetic to a tee. Do everything, including running, getting open, being able to create space, hitting deep balls, short balls, and intermediate balls.
Although I believe Flowers has the potential to be a game-changer for the Ravens’ offense, I’m not convinced it will convert to a large amount of output from the wide receiver position. Even with a new play-calling staff, it is safe to assume that the Ravens will maintain their status as one of the teams in the league that relies on the run game the most. In addition, Mark Andrews will continue to serve as the primary target in the passing game. That leaves Bateman, Beckham, and Flowers with an insufficient number of targets to divide among themselves. The Ravens have not had a wide receiver who ranked in the top 20 in nearly twenty years, and that won’t change next season.
Again, this is not to suggest that Flowers will not put up yards or touchdowns, but his long-term worth on the Ravens does not line up with the first-round selection that you will have to pay in order to obtain him in a dynasty draft. Flowers’ overall fantasy expectations take a pretty major hit after the move to Baltimore, and it is quite probable that he will be demoted to the WR2 or WR3 tier for at least the first portion of his tenure.
Fantasy Impact
Flowers and the Ravens should be in for a sleepy good fantasy season. The Ravens are trying to shift towards a more passing offense, but most fantasy managers have a recency bias and won’t reach for pass catchers in Baltimore. Flowers not only has a great name to play around with when coming up with Funny Fantasy Football Team Names, but his ADP is arguably too low considering his role in the offense. OBJ will get all the hype, but Flowers may be in line to see WR1 amount of targets.
ZAY FLOWERS NFL DRAFT PREVIEW
Zay Flowers, an extremely prolific college athlete, has disproved naysayers by putting up stats during all four years of his collegiate career despite having a smaller size and performing inconsistently at quarterback. Despite the fact that he played the bulk of his snaps on the outside at BC, it is quite probable that he will be designated to play the slot when he gets to the pros. His speed and shiftiness should get him onto the field sooner rather than later in that position.
MEASURABLES
- 5’9″ 182 lbs
- 40-yard dash – 4.42 seconds
- Vertical Jump – 35.5″
- Broad Jump – 10’7″
STATS AT BOSTON COLLEGE
- 2022: 78 catches, 1077 yards, 12 TDs
- 2021: 44 catches, 746 yards, 5 TDs
- 2020: 56 catches, 892 yards, 9 TDs
- 2019: 22 catches, 341 yards, 3 TDs