Extension Candidate: Zay Flowers

The Ravens haven’t the best luck in their history of drafting wide receivers in the first round of the NFL draft. From Travis Taylor to Mark Clayton to Breshad Perriman, Baltimore has seen their fair share of disappointments. Eric DeCosta has done better since taking over as general manager in 2019 with Marquise Brown in his first draft and Rashod Bateman two years later, but Flowers has seen more success than every previous top pick in Baltimore.

Since getting drafted in 2023, Flowers has led the Ravens in receptions and receiving yards. His most recent season totals of 86 receptions and 1,211 receiving yards rank fourth and second for the franchise all-time — tight end Mark Andrews leads both categories with his 2021 contributions of 107 receptions and 1,361 receiving yards. Where Flowers has fallen short as a weapon for the offense is in the red zone, and falling “short” may offer a clue as to why there is some debate over how much he may be worth.

In his three seasons of play, Flowers has totaled five receiving touchdowns (2023), four receiving touchdowns (2024), and five receiving touchdowns (2025). His 2025 total tied for the team lead in a down year for the team’s passing attack, but Flowers hasn’t sniffed double digits. Flowers is able to consistently get open, he can make defenders miss when he has the ball in his hands, and he’s a decent deep target for quarterback Lamar Jackson on occasion, but when the Ravens find the red zone, bigger targets like Andrews, Bateman, and Isaiah Likely tend to reap the rewards.

ESPN’s Jamison Hensley recently speculated about the odds of Flowers getting an extension before the start of the season. The team picked up his fifth-year option, which means he’ll be due a fully guaranteed $27.3MM in 2027 if a deal doesn’t get done. Working from there, Hensley speculates that an extension for Flowers could average of $35MM per year. Currently, only four players make more on an annual basis than that: Jaxon Smith-Njigba ($42.15MM), Ja’Marr Chase ($40.25), Drake London ($35.26), and Justin Jefferson ($35MM).

SportsBoom’s Jason La Canfora saw “anything more than $30MM” per year as an overpay for Flowers, and he quoted a number of anonymous NFL executives that appeared to feel the same with one executive claiming that “his lack of size is a big deal…a separator.” To this point, at 5-foot-9, Flowers would be an anomaly among the top-paid players at his position. When going down the list of the highest-paid wide receivers in the NFL, one under six feet tall doesn’t appear until Jayden Waddle at 5-foot-10, who ranks 14th in the league with $28.25MM per year. The next one shorter than six feet is Wan’Dale Robinson at 5-foot-8, who ranks 28th at $17.5MM per year.

Now Robinson’s stats don’t nearly reach what Flowers is doing, but Flowers’ numbers are fairly comparable to Waddle’s, granted Flowers has outperformed Waddle in the past two years. That seems to lend some credibility to $30MM as a cutoff, but Baltimore isn’t likely going to point to Flowers’ size in contract negotiations. Besides height has been disregarded as a limiting factor before; both Antonio Brown and Tyreek Hill signed contracts that made them the highest-paid receivers in the NFL at some point in their careers.

It’s just going to come down to how much the Ravens value Flowers. DeCosta praises the 25-year-old as an established leader of the team, and his performances in each of the past two seasons have resulted in Pro Bowl nods. Baltimore may overlook some the limitations that outside franchises might impose in negotiations. He’ll almost certainly get paid more than Waddle is on his current deal, but does he deserve to be in the upper echelon of wide receiver salaries alongside the top players in the league? That will be for the Ravens to decide as negotiations continue.