3 Questions after 1st Ravens and Commanders joint practice. Baltimore drafted a ROY?

3. Did Baltimore really draft the Offensive Rookie of the Year?

It's early in the season. Hell, it's not even the season yet, as we're still navigating the meaningless waters of the hot preseason, so it's incredibly soon to name any award winner. But things couldn't be looking better for the latest Ravens first-round pick, WR Zay "Joystick" Flowers.

Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic wrote a report discussing Tuesday's practice and this is what he had to say about Flowers.

"In his first rep, Flowers got a step on fellow rookie first-round pick Forbes to make a deep catch down the far sideline. Flowers then lined up against Rachad Wildgoose and made a diving catch while the Commanders’ cornerback had a hold of his jersey. In his third opportunity, Flowers shook defensive back Jartavius Martin before making the catch."

- Jeff Zrebiec, The Athletic

The Ravens' beat reporter pointed out what we already know before writing that paragraph, basically saying that Flowers had already excelled against his teammates and Baltimore CBs in earlier practices.

Then, he let us know how he didn't do any worse against the Commanders' defenders. Flowers simply cooked anyone and everyone that dared face him on Tuesday's joint practice.

Zrebiec highlighted "how much separation [Flowers] creates and how many times he’s made the player covering him stumble or trip."

Ryan Mink of BaltimoreRavens.com also gave Flowers high grades. Mink wrote about the clip included above.

You can watch the Ravens WR facing fellow 2023 rookie and Washington's CB Emmanuel Forbes on 1-on-1 drills, and Mink described the action as: "Flowers cooked Forbes off the line of scrimmage and beat him deep by a couple steps for what would have been a long touchdown."

Let's not get overly cocky, but the Ravens might actually have drafted the absolute best rookie of the 2023 class of freshmen.

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