Ravens agree to $140 million contract extension with ‘foundational’ WR Zay Flowers

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Ravens star Zay Flowers is already the most decorated wide receiver in franchise history. Now he’s one of the NFL’s highest paid, too.

The two-time Pro Bowler agreed Tuesday to a four-year, $140 million contract extension through the 2031 season. Only three receivers have a higher average annual contract value than Flowers’ extension ($35 million): the Seattle Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba ($42.2 million), the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase ($40.3 million) and the Atlanta Falcons’ Drake London ($35.3 million).

Flowers, 25, who became eligible for an extension this offseason, said in April that he “absolutely” wanted to stay in Baltimore. General manager Eric DeCosta, who in April picked up the fifth-year option on Flowers’ rookie contract for 2027, worth $27.3 million, had expressed confidence this offseason about finalizing a deal.

On Tuesday, Flowers watched from the sidelines at practice as the second-richest deal in franchise history came together. Afterward, coach Jesse Minter said it was a “great day for the Ravens.”

“Zay is the type of player we always seek to retain. Tough, competitive, durable, a premier talent and a foundational football player,” DeCosta said in a statement. “He’s earned this extension and we are thrilled for Zay and his family.”

Flowers, who was not made available to reporters Tuesday, was the Ravens’ highest-rated wide receiver prospect in the 2023 NFL draft. He’s since blossomed into one of the league’s most productive wideouts. Over the past three years, he has 3,128 receiving yards (11th most in the NFL in that span) and 16 total touchdowns (14 receiving).

Flowers’ record-breaking success in Baltimore has defied expectations at a long-tortured position. Forging a quick bond with quarterback Lamar Jackson, a fellow South Florida native and now close friend, Flowers led the Ravens in receiving as a rookie. In 2024, he became the first player in Ravens history to be named to the Pro Bowl as a wide receiver.

Last season, despite an often rickety offense, a less-than-healthy Jackson and regular attention from opposing defenses, Flowers had a career year. He finished with the second-most receiving yards (1,211) and fourth-most receptions (86) in a season in franchise history. According to Pro Football Focus, only three players who were targeted at least 50 times last season averaged more yards per route run than Flowers (2.53), a measure of down-to-down efficiency.

“He’s one of the best receivers in the league, and he’s shown that since he stepped on the NFL field back in 2023,” Jackson said in June. “His value is out of this world.”

“He can hit the home run. He has incredible YAC [ability], incredible change of direction, good route technique, good route craft, good hands,” safety Jaylinn Hawkins said Tuesday. “He is a playmaker. [He is] one of those guys you always have to keep an eye out for when you are on the field.”

Only postseason glory has eluded him so far. In the AFC championship game in 2024, Flowers led the Ravens with five catches for 115 yards and a touchdown, but his crucial goal-line fumble early in the fourth quarter proved costly in a 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. A year later, after suffering a minor knee injury in Week 18, he was sidelined as the Ravens fell to the Buffalo Bills in an AFC divisional-round heartbreaker.

In January, Flowers had a game-high 138 receiving yards and two touchdowns in Week 18 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, including a go-ahead 64-yard score late in the fourth quarter, only to watch the Ravens’ season end after another late-game collapse under then-coach John Harbaugh.

Flowers, who impressed Ravens officials by turning down lucrative name, image and likeness offers to finish his career at Boston College, has endeared himself to Ravens fans desperate for a wide receiver success story. He is as unflappable on the field (one regular-season game missed in three years) as he is off the field, where he’s one of the team’s hardest workers and most visible stars. (When the NFL needed a Raven to promote the team’s Week 3 game in Rio de Janeiro against the Dallas Cowboys, it sent the perpetually smiling Flowers.)

“When your best players are the right type of people, and they bring the right mentality, and everything marries together ... it’s such a great thing when something like that happens to them,” Minter said Tuesday. “Nothing better as a coach than to see those guys get what they deserve.”

Still, Flowers’ extension will renew debates about his place in the NFL’s wide receiver hierarchy. Flowers’ usage under former offensive coordinator Todd Monken was uncommon for a No. 1 wideout; he was often featured in the Ravens’ presnap motion, partly to shield him from press coverage, which has given the 5-foot-9 Flowers trouble at times over his career. According to FTN, wide receiver Rashod Bateman matched up with opponents’ top cornerback more often last season than Flowers did.

Now the hope in Owings Mills is that Jackson will sign on for the long term as well. Jackson is under contract through 2027, but his salary cap hit is set to skyrocket from $34.4 million this year to an unwieldy $84.3 million next year. DeCosta has engaged Jackson in extension talks that would almost assuredly make him the NFL’s highest-paid player once again, but it’s unclear whether Jackson is close to agreeing to a deal before Week 1.

After Tuesday’s deal, the Ravens have Jackson’s WR1 in Baltimore for a long time.