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.
2. Zay Flowers broke out as a sophomore
Zay Flowers was a three-star recruit as a high school player so he did not get much buzz. However, he started to get on the field as a true freshman, which was probably a sign that good things were about to happen. However, his breakout season was in 2020 as a sophomore.
He finished with 892 yards and nine touchdowns that season. It was a weird year due to COVID, and some players had down years, while others played better that year. Flowers did not have the exact same results in 2020, but he still put up 746 yards and five touchdowns.
That was not enough to prove his legitimacy, and he was not getting enough draft buzz. So, he went back to Boston College as a senior, and he even turned down some NIL deals at bigger schools to do so. Then, he went off. Flowers finished with 1,077 yards and 12 touchdowns as a Senior. He was excellent at the East-West Shrine Bowl and completed things with a strong NFL combine.
Flowers had a 46.7% which is the percentage of the offensive production that he was responsible. He had almost half of the BC offense. That rate is in the 94th percentile. He also had a 29.6% target rate, which ranks in the 89th percentile. Still, on 29% of the offensive targets, he created 47% of the offense. That is pretty darn good.
Overall, Zay Flowers had a great career. He broke out as a sophomore and kept it going with two solid seasons after. His best year being his senior year is what finished off the idea that he was a first-round pick.
1. Zay Flowers brings all area ability to Baltimore Ravens
Zay Flowers can move in and out of the slot which is going to be a huge benefit for the Baltimore Ravens. More than that, the team has to love that he can take advantage of all three levels of the field. In 2021, he had a 35% deep target rate, with 20.7% of his passes being in the short game, which is 0-9 yards.
In 2022, Zay Flowers had a 37.9% target rate in the short range, and he had a 21.9% deep ball rate. Last season 33% of his passes were in the short center of the field. The season prior saw 23.3% of his passed deep down the sidelines.
This shows that the player is a three-level player. He can make plays in the short middle, and the deep sideline. Beyond that, he can create with the ball in his hands from all layers. His YAC was 7.4 when his ADOT was 15, and his career ADOT is 13 with a YAC of 6.8. This shows us that even as he was targeted further down the field, he was still getting yards after the catch. Still, in the short passing game, he was also getting YAC.
We have to add that Flowers had nine drops last season, and if anything is a downside, it is definitely his drops. However, we are talking about a player who checks a lot of boxes. He can get on the field immediately and can adapt to the players and scheme around him.