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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 Bowl pick agreed Tuesday to a contract extension reportedly worth $140 million over four years. 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 picked up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract in April, worth $27.3 million in 2027, had expressed confidence this offseason about finalizing a deal.

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“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 was the Ravens’ top wide receiver prospect in the 2023 NFL draft, and 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 Ravens wide receiver to be named to the Pro Bowl at the position.

Last season, despite regular attention from opposing defenses, an often rickety offense and a less-than-healthy Jackson, Flowers had a career year. He finished with the second-most receiving yards in a season (1,211) and the fourth-most receptions (86) 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.”

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Only postseason glory has eluded him so far. In 2023, Flowers led the Ravens in the AFC championship game with five catches for 115 yards and a touchdown, but a 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 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.)

Still, his 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 WR1; 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.

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, but it’s unclear whether Jackson is close to agreeing to a deal before Week 1.

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