Zay Flowers suffered a sprained knee in Baltimore's last regular-season game. It wasn't surprising that he missed their first playoff contest, and it won't be terribly surprising if he misses next week's game, too. And so what. He may be going to the Pro Bowl, but the offense doesn't seem to miss him very much.
It's the Pro Bowl that kind of bugs me a little, since Flowers got in over five AFC wide receivers who had more yards than he did, eight who had more receptions, and about 15 who had more touchdowns (I lost count on my way down the stat list to his 4 touchdowns). Maybe he's a really good blocker, but there is simply no good explanation to put him in that game over Brian Thomas (better in all three categories) and several other guys who were also just better than him statistically in nearly every category.
Some will recall that we were high on Flowers entering the season, thinking he'd step up as Baltimore's go-to, breakout wide receiver. But truly, he's been just a good wide receiver -- not a difference-maker at any point.
Table shows Flowers' first two years of games, sorted by fantasy points (in PPR leagues, where he has his most value, catching some short passes but not many touchdowns). In 33 total games, Flowers has 15-plus points in 11 games, so a third of the time. That's one fewer than the number of games he's finished in the single digits (under 10 points in PPR leagues, which he's done 12 times). Flowers isn't winning fantasy leagues, and with the Ravens winning big without him last night, it can fairly be wondered if the Ravens' Super Bowl odds are dramatically different if he's on the field or not.
| ZAY FLOWERS, 2023-2024 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | Pts |
| 2024 | Den. | 6 | 5 | 127 | 2 | 29.7 |
| 2024 | Was. | 9 | 9 | 132 | 0 | 22.2 |
| 2023 | at S.F. | 13 | 9 | 72 | 1 | 22.2 |
| 2024 | L.V. | 11 | 7 | 91 | 1 | 22.1 |
| 2023 | Mia. | 3 | 3 | 106 | 1 | 19.6 |
| 2024 | at Cle. | 12 | 7 | 115 | 0 | 18.5 |
| 2024 | at Cin. | 12 | 7 | 111 | 0 | 18.1 |
| 2023 | LAR | 10 | 6 | 60 | 1 | 18.0 |
| 2023 | at Ten. | 8 | 6 | 50 | 1 | 17.0 |
| 2023 | Hou. | 10 | 9 | 78 | 0 | 16.8 |
| 2024 | Pit. | 8 | 5 | 100 | 0 | 15.0 |
| 2023 | at LAC | 8 | 5 | 25 | 1 | 13.5 |
| 2023 | Ind. | 10 | 8 | 48 | 0 | 12.8 |
| 2023 | at Pit. | 11 | 5 | 73 | 0 | 12.3 |
| 2023 | Cle. | 6 | 5 | 73 | 0 | 12.3 |
| 2024 | at Pit. | 6 | 2 | 39 | 1 | 11.9 |
| 2023 | Det. | 6 | 4 | 75 | 0 | 11.5 |
| 2024 | at NYG | 7 | 6 | 53 | 0 | 11.3 |
| 2024 | at LAC | 8 | 5 | 62 | 0 | 11.2 |
| 2024 | Phi. | 7 | 3 | 74 | 0 | 10.4 |
| 2023 | at Cin. | 5 | 4 | 62 | 0 | 10.2 |
| 2024 | at K.C. | 10 | 6 | 37 | 0 | 9.7 |
| 2023 | at Cle. | 4 | 3 | 56 | 0 | 8.6 |
| 2024 | Cin. | 6 | 4 | 34 | 0 | 7.4 |
| 2023 | Cin. | 4 | 3 | 43 | 0 | 7.3 |
| 2023 | at Ari. | 7 | 5 | 19 | 0 | 6.9 |
| 2024 | at Hou. | 5 | 2 | 31 | 0 | 5.1 |
| 2024 | at Dal. | 4 | 3 | 20 | 0 | 5.0 |
| 2024 | Cle. | 2 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 2.2 |
| 2023 | Sea. | 1 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 2.1 |
| 2024 | at T.B. | 1 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 2.1 |
| 2024 | Buf. | 2 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 2.0 |
| 2023 | at Jac. | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1.7 |
Ravens will probably be headed to Buffalo next week, which will make for a fun matchup with another seeming non-difference-making No. 1 wideout, Khalil Shakir. These are good NFL players and quality players and chain-movers in their offense. But their teams can win without them. Fantasy leaguers can too.
--Andy Richardson