Declan Doyle's use of Zay Flowers is turning him into the top-10 WR Ravens paid for

There was a lot of controversy about the Baltimore Ravens handing Zay Flowers a monster five-year, $140 million deal this season. The only wide receivers making more than Flowers are Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ja'Marr Chase, and Drake London. Admittedly, the price point was higher than I anticipated, despite my belief in Flowers. Thankfully, Zay has quickly shut down any possible concerns about his contract this season.

Flowers missed Week 2 with a hamstring injury and had his snaps limited in Week 3. Regardless, Zay's 352 receiving yards rank seventh in the league, and his 6.29 yards per route run rank second among players who run at least 20 routes. It's worth noting that 152 players have run more routes than Zay. His production and efficiency are simply remarkable.

And while Flowers deserves a lot of credit, new offensive coordinator Declan Doyle's role in his ascension can't be ignored. Doyle has used Flowers in a variety of roles and ensures that plays are drawn up with him specifically in mind. Don't get me wrong, Todd Monken did a solid job of this, but Doyle has taken Flowers' usage and versatility to another level, which, in turn, has elevated his game.

Declan Doyle has helped Zay Flowers level up

Doyle's creative schemes have helped Flowers reach another level. Zay is constantly moving around the field, lining up everywhere imaginable, and is often used in motion. Look at this touchdown he scored in Week 1: Flowers lines up in the backfield with Jackson, gets open off a great route, and speeds into the end zone. That's a super creative way to use Flowers, and clearly it gave the defense headaches. 

Recently, head coach Jesse Minter praised how Doyle has moved Flowers around the field and how it's opened up the Ravens' offense.

"Dec does a great job of putting him in different positions," Minter said. "So you can game plan for a guy like Zay, but I also think in our offense, he's going to line up at five different positions. And so you can have a game plan for him when he's the outside receiver to maybe take him away, or maybe when he's the slot receiver. But then he's ended up as number three a lot. He's ended up on linebackers in zone coverages. He's ended up out of the backfield a few times, as we've seen this year. And so I think that's just a credit to Zay to be able to do all that and sort of understand the concepts that he can move around to different spots. And then Declan obviously moving him around."

Having a wide receiver who lines up all over the field makes your offense incredibly hard to defend against, and makes iteasy to involve that player.

So much of football is about how to maximize opportunities for your best weapons. For the Ravens, it comes down to feeding Derrick Henry and drawing up plays for Lamar Jackson to find Flowers. Clearly, Doyle understands this, and using him across the field ensures that Flowers' hot start to the season will be sustainable. Relevantly, Doyle also increased his target share from 11th to fourth. 

By all accounts, Doyle has helped maximize Flowers' talent, and he looks every bit of a top-10 WR. 

Flowers might just be scratching the surface

The scary part for other teams is that Flowers still hasn't had a normal game this season. 

Remember, he didn't play in the second half of Week 1 with a hamstring injury. In that game, Flowers posted 150 yards and a touchdown. As noted earlier, the hamstring injury kept Flowers sidelined for Week 2 and limited his snaps in Week 3, though he still had 86 yards, including a big catch to set up Tyler Loop's game-winning kick. Unfortunately, Lamar Jackson's didn't play in the second half of Sunday's game. He still recorded 119 yards and a touchdown in the first half.  

So the question is: If Lamar and Flowers are fully healthy for a full game, what will it look like? Truly, the sky is the limit. Though he has some tough competition with Smith-Njigba, Chase, Ceedee Lamb, and others, I don't think it's impossible that Flowers leads the league in receiving yards. Even if Flowers doesn't reach this level, he could certainly be top-three. I'll also go out on a limb and predict that Flowers records a 200-yard game at some point this season.

Nearly a quarter of the way through the season, I don't think it's debatable that Flowers is a top-10 WR, and putting his success in context, he could be top-five at the end of the year.  

Two things are for sure, though: Flowers is proving to be well worth his contract, and Doyle has helped further unlock him.

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