Through two weeks, one of the pleasant surprises of the Baltimore Ravens season has been rookie Zay Flowers. He put in work after the catch in week one and had a game-changing reception in week two. So, is this something to get excited about, or just some early rookie magic?
Here are some advanced stats to help you decided for yourself.
3. Zay Flowers has been better against zone coverage for the Baltimore Ravens
Zay Flowers is a smaller, shiftier receiver, so it would make sense that he is better at finding safety in the soft spots of the zone compared to beating his man one-on-one. With that said Flowers is much better against zone than man at this point. He has not been a complete letdown, but it is clear that they target Flowers when they see specific looks.
For example, he has two catches on four targets for 20 yards against man coverage. Meanwhile, he has seven catches for 110 yards against the zone. He has caught all seven of his targets as well. Flowers is averaging 2.75 yards per route run against zone and 1.43 against man.
Still, this works for the Ravens. They have Odell Beckham, who is more well-known as the man-beater. Beckham is targeted 57% of the time he runs a route in man this year, while Flowers is targeted just 27% of the time against man.
However, against the zone, Flowers is targeted 47% of the time, and Beckham sees targets just 29% of the time. So, the split is natural. As Flowers gets better at his route running and gets off, he can play better against man coverage. For now, the Ravens like to use him in motion to get him off of the line of scrimmage clean, and then they target him when they see zone coverage.
2. The Baltimore Ravens are getting Zay Flowers the football on screen passes
One of the main reasons why Flowers is targeted so much against zone coverage is because a majority of his targets are screen passes. Eight of Zay Flowers's 15 targets have come as screens. So, he is almost being targeted against linebackers who sit in zone or cornerbacks off of the ball anyways.
Flowers has been targeted on a screen pass for 53.3% of his routes run. No wide receiver in the NFL has more of his targets from screen plays. Kadarius Toney is at 50%, and Christian Kirk is at 31.3%.
This has added a whole new dimension to Lamar Jackson and his game. Over the last three years, Lamar Jackson has thrown a screen pass 7.7% of the time, 4.9%, and 6.4% of the time.
This year, that number is over 20.3%. This has increased his completion rate in a big way and allowed him to get the ball out early; it is like getting a shooter a few layups and short-range jumpers before he goes deep for three.
Zay Flowers has made life a lot easier for Lamar Jackson already, and he has given Todd Monken easy access to getting him the football.
1. Zay Flowers is being used all over the place
Zay Flowers has eight catches for 28 yards on screens. It is a nice play to get positive movement, and it gets Lamar Jackson in a comfort zone, but there is more to Flowers, has six catches for 112 yards on plays that were not screens.
Flowers has been able to work in all areas of the field. He has 19 yards past the line and between nine yards. He has 21 yards between 10 and 19 yards, and he has 72 yards on deep passes. That includes a 52-yard game-changing catch against the Bengals. They are working him to all areas of the field, and Flowers is making it work.
Beyond that, they are moving him in and out of the slot. He is 6-7 for 27 yards in the slot. 46.7 of his targets come from the slot. Still, most of those are the screen passes. On the outside, he has 111 yards on 7-8 passing. He has been the Z wide receiver most often, and the Ravens have played Nelson Agholor and even Rashod Bateman in the slot more often than Zay Flowers.
He is already becoming a player who do everything for his team. Look out for the wrinkles that Todd Monken starts to draw up when teams see how Flowers is being used, and also the ways that Jackson will start to find him on extended plays.