Zay

Flowers

Flowers accounted for a third of the team’s targets while tying Derrick Henry and Mark Andrews for a team-high in catches. In points-per-target-share leagues, this was an elite performance. For the rest of us, his Week 17 bust goes down as a product of game script. The Ravens bludgeoned the Texans with a 29-point victory and Lamar Jackson attempted just 15 passes. Week 18 should be another low-volume outing with a matchup versus a struggling Browns squad on tap. Flowers will be a high-risk WR2 for the regular season finale.

Flowers is able to go as expected even while working on short rest while dealing with a shoulder injury. It’s good news for a receiving corp that will be without Nelson Agholor due at concussion. The rest of the Ravens inactives for the Christmas showdown are RB Justice Hill, RB Justice Hill (concussion), CB Jalyn Armour-Davis (hamstring), S Marcus Williams, OLB Adisa Isaac and C Nick Samac.

Flowers is listed as questionable for the Christmas showdown, but the 24-year-old wideout appears to be on the right side of that to play against Houston. Fantasy managers will want to be totally sure before having Flowers in their fantasy lineup, but assuming he does indeed play, it seems reasonable to expect a solid fantasy contribution Wednesday.

Flowers got in a limited session today after DNPs on Sunday and Monday. He played the entirety of Saturday’s game against the Steelers and we’re guessing is on the optimistic side of questionable with the team easing off his practice workload under this “three games in 11 days” nonsense. If Flowers can’t go, Rashod Bateman would get an upgrade in the Week 17 rankings.

Flowers has now been a DNP for two straight days. A DNP on Tuesday would be a bad look for his Week 17 availability, but it’s possible the Ravens are exercising additional precautions for some of their players as they prepare for a short rest week ahead of Christmas Day’s game against the Texans. Head coach John Harbaugh was “pretty optimistic” that Flowers would play, so we wouldn’t press the panic button just yet.

Flowers totaled 100 yards in the Ravens Week 16 win over the Steelers and didn’t have an injury reported immediately after the team’s win. Whatever he’s dealing with is likely minor, but we’ll see how things develop as the week progresses. For now, we’ll assume this is more of a rest thing and that Flowers will be good to go for Wednesday’s game against the Texans.

The highlight of Flowers’ night came on a 49-yard deep bomb in the fourth quarter with the team holding a decisive 31-17 lead. The Ravens would then run down the clock to three minutes remaining before kicking a field goal to go up 34-17. Flowers remained extremely busy in the offense while serving as the primary motion man, a role that brings weekly upside while catching passes from one of the hottest quarterbacks in the league in Lamar Jackson.

Flowers couldn’t get it done on limited volume in a blowout victory against New York. Rashod Bateman, meanwhile, made the most of his five targets, catching three for 80 yards and two touchdowns. Flowers — with just three touchdowns over his past 12 games — remains a top-30 fantasy option despite the Week 15 letdown. Next week he’ll face the Steelers, against whom he had 39 yards and a touchdown in Week 11.

Lamar Jackson took multiple big-play shots to Flowers but struggled to make the connection work outside of a 40-yard reception on Baltimore’s opening drive and a 20-yarder on the next drive. Flowers failed to bring in any of his three targets in the second half. Both he and the Ravens’ passing attack as a whole have slowed in recent weeks, with Flowers’ last 100-yard performance coming five weeks ago. He also has just one touchdown since then. The Ravens get their bye in Week 14 and then return to action versus the Giants. Even after a quiet month of football, Flowers will hang onto a WR2 ranking in Week 15 against the Giants.

Flowers managed to reel in catches of 22 yards and 25 yards but was otherwise confined to short area work against a stout Los Angeles secondary. The team got bruising running back Derrick Henry going in the second quarter, which confined quarterback Lamar Jackson to just 22 pass attempts, eight of which were directed at the team’s top option through the air. Flowers could be needed for heavier volume when the Ravens take on the 9-2 Eagles in Week 13.