Ravens star's painful secret sheds new light on career-defining season

The Baltimore Ravens might lack proven depth in their wide receiver room. However, what they don’t lack is a true No. 1. Zay Flowers is exactly that.

Flowers outdid himself again in 2025, posting career-highs with 86 receptions and 1,211 yards and tying another career-high with six total touchdowns. It should come as no shock that the extraordinary efforts earned him a spot in the NFL Top 100. He placed 71st in the ranking.

One statement jumps out in Flowers’ ranking reveal, though. When watching back possibly his best catch of the season in Week 5 against the Houston Texans, he revealed he cracked his ribs on that play.

While he didn’t go in depth on the severity of the injury, the fact that he was still able to play all 17 games and dominate the way he did speaks volumes about his ability. And it’s WR1 ability.

Zay Flowers bringing unstoppable play and mindset to Baltimore Ravens offense

Zay Flowers hasn’t slowed up at all through the first three years of his NFL career. Every adjustment that opposing defenses throw his way seems to be useless. He’s among the best separators in the league, and almost every week, you can expect him to put up numbers.

Clearly, injuries aren’t going to slow Flowers down either. Even if that rib injury was very minor, it’s never easy to fight through an issue of that nature. Flowers not only fought through it, but he soared past the challenge with flying colors.

Following that Week 5 matchup, Flowers continued to be the driving force through the air. While Baltimore’s passing attack struggled, the 25-year-old star kept getting the lion’s share of targets and made the most of those opportunities. From that moment on, there were just two games where Flowers failed to eclipse 50 receiving yards and score a touchdown.

And if that production wasn’t special enough, Flowers’ willingness to fight through injuries proves that the Ravens have a future superstar on their hands. He rises to the occasion every year, and whether it's injuries, questionable play-calling, or poor quarterback play, Flowers has shown he will do whatever it takes to elevate the offense to another level.

While it will be extremely hard for Flowers to set new career highs again in 2026, pretty much everything about his performance up to this point displays the capability of breaking the team’s receiving record of 1,361 yards. Last year may have just been the start for Flowers, and we could see him cement himself into the upper echelon of wideouts this season.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow