It was not much of a surprise to see the Baltimore Ravens draft Zay Flowers. He is a player we profiled as a possible option, and he was one of the players most mocked to the Ravens. After adding Odell Beckham steam cooled down, but the Ravens never wavered.
With the addition of Flowers, what do fans need to know?
3. Zay Flowers plays slot and outside
Zay Flowers stayed at Boston College until his Senior season, so he comes into the NFL with plenty of experience. According to PFF, he has 1,415 routes run, and in total, he has 2,591 snaps. He was targeted 347 times in his career and hauled in 199 passes.
What is impressive is that he has moved in and out of the slot. Zay Flowers spent 33.9% of his snaps in the slot for his career, and last season he had a 32.8% slot rate. However, Flowers may end up being better off in the slot moving forward.
He averaged 2.35 yards per route run when he is in the slot, and that is 1.86 when he is on the outside. It is worth adding that he only averaged 1.37 yards per route in the slot this past year, and he was much more productive outside, despite being better in the slot earlier in his career.
This will be interesting, because in three wide receiver sets the team would hope to have Rashad Bateman and Odell Beckham on the outside. Beckham can move into the slot at times when needed, but that is not his game, and Bateman has hardly been in the slot. The odds are that Flowers will go from 33% in the slot to closer to 66% in the slot next season with the Ravens.