The Baltimore Ravens have made 2-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Zay Flowers a very rich man.
“Just in: Baltimore’s two-time Pro-Bowl WR Zay Flowers reached agreement today with the Ravens on a four-year, $140 million extension that includes $108 million guaranteed,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on his official X account on Tuesday. “The $35M per year extension for Zay Flowers ties him with Justin Jefferson in new-money average per year.”
Flowers was the Ravens’ 1st-round pick (No. 22 overall) in the 2023 NFL Draft and has been 1 of the NFL’s elite wide receivers over the last 2 seasons with consecutive 1,000-yard receiving campaigns and consecutive Pro Bowl selections in 2024 and 2025.
Over his 1st 3 seasons in the NFL, Flowers has 237 receptions for 3,128 yards and 14 touchdowns.
“I’m really happy for Zay, really excited for him,” 1st-year Ravens head coach Jesse Minter said. “Excited to see him thrive in our offense.”
Flowers’ contract is the largest non-quarterback contract in franchise history and makes him the 4th-highest paid wide receiver in the NFL.
On Tuesday morning, Flowers was conspicuously sidelined for practice.
“Ravens WR Zay Flowers, who isn’t practicing, shared a hug on the practice field about 20 minutes ago and got good reason,” The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec wrote on X. “Team confirms that the Ravens and Flowers have reached agreement on an extension.”
NFL World Reacts to Flowers’ Massive Contract
The fact Flowers will be getting paid the same as Minnesota Vikings superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson at any point in their careers moving forward left some NFL fans aghast — especially considering his history of melting down in the playoffs when his team needs him most.
“Excuse me?” The Ringer’s Bill Simmons wrote on his official X account when news broke of Flowers’ extension.
“You gotta be kidding me, right?” Underdog’s Papa Zirk wrote on his official X account. “NFL teams just giving money away … let’s be honest here, no homer Ravens fans responses count. You’re really gonna pay Zay Flowers top 5 money? 4th if we’re getting technical. He’s making per season what Jetta is and a million more a year than CeeDee. Zay isn’t even top 10 in the league. No shot. Just facts.”
“35 million US dollars a year for Zay Flowers,” Icy Diggs wrote on X.
Flowers’ Offseason: Complaining & Making Excuses
Flowers made headlines this offseason for some pretty unattractive reasons — complaining about how hard practices were under former head coach John Harbaugh and trying to re-write history over his disastrous performance against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game 2 years ago.
Trailing 17-7 at the start of the 4th quarter in Baltimore, Flowers received a taunting penalty on Chiefs cornerback La’Jarius Sneed on a deep catch that brought the Ravens to Kansas City’s 10-yard line. His 15-yard penalty pushed them back to the 25-yard line.
Four plays later, Sneed stripped Flowers of the ball as he dove into the end zone to give the Chiefs the ball back, and Kansas City eventually won the game, 17-10, and went on to win their 2nd consecutive Super Bowl.
Flowers fibs quite a bit in his retelling of what happened that day, but we’ll get to that in a second.
“I had 130 (receiving yards),” Flowers said during a podcast appearance. “You feel me? We had 4 more possessions after that. We got into the red zone 2 of them possessions. You could say I (lost the game) but it just looks like that because we got to the red zone on the last possession and kicked a field goal. At 1st I was like, ‘Damn, that’s not on you cuz’ … but if you’re a winner you’re gonna say it’s on you … and you know the internet gonna blow it up like ‘Oh, if you woulda scored,’ but bro I’m like you know we had 4 or 5 more possessions after (the fumble) and that was the 1st play of the 4th quarter.”
Let’s start to wade our way through what’s true and what’s not here.
First — Flowers did not have 130 receiving yards. He had 5 receptions for 115 yards and 1 touchdown.
Second — the Ravens did not have “4 or 5 more possessions” after his fumble. They had 2 more possessions.
One thing Flowers leaves out is that after the fumble, he slammed his hand into the bench and lacerated his finger. It was an injury that required stitches, and on a day when Flowers seemed unstoppable at times, he didn’t touch the ball again after he hurt his finger.
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