Though Zay Flowers’ rookie year didn’t end the way anyone would’ve liked, the receiver had a solid first season after the Ravens selected him at No. 22 overall in 2023.
He finished with 77 catches for 858 yards with five touchdowns, also taking eight carries for 56 yards with a TD.
With training camp opening over the weekend, Flowers said there’s one aspect of his game that he’s been looking to improve in 2024.
“Probably deep passes; probably more deep passes. I feel like I can go get them,” Flowers said in his Sunday press conference. “If they’re in the air, I’ll go get them. That’s one of the things I want to improve, to answer your question. I’ll say that’s one of the things — just hitting more deep balls. Because that’s what I did in college, so I want to come out and try to hit more this year.”
While it’s not air yards, Flowers had 12 receptions of at least 20 yards last season with four of at least 40 yards. By contrast, 12 players had 20 or more catches of at least 20 yards last season — led by Tyreek Hill with 29.
So what does Flowers have to do to improve his numbers?
“[It’s] probably just running more of them and working on them with ‘L.J.’ [Lamar Jackson], and working on them with the group, honestly, because I don’t think we had a lot last year, so we want to come out and improve,” Flowers said.
Baltimore was in the middle of the pack with 52 plays of 20-plus yards and nine plays of 40-plus yards in 2023.
Flowers and the rest of Baltimore’s offense will get the first crack at showing what they can do in the 2024 regular season when the Ravens play the Chiefs in the kickoff game on Thursday, Sept. 5.