Kyle Goon: Paying Zay Flowers will be worth it — if Lamar Jackson signs with the Ravens, too

It’s hard to imagine that there is more than one person in the world who feels entitled to shake Lamar Jackson out of bed with a 5 a.m. phone call.

That person is Zay Flowers.

Throughout the offseason, Jackson said, Flowers would buzz him before dawn, asking if he was up for working out in South Florida, where they both live. Jackson preferred to sleep in for four more hours. But that didn’t stop Flowers from pestering him.

Flowers’ dedication to these early morning sessions is probably one of the reasons that he has been so successful with the Ravens, going over 1,000 receiving yards and being named to the Pro Bowl each of the last two seasons. He’s the rare Ravens’ first-round receiver to actually become the playmaker the team imagined, and now with a $140 million contract extension, he’s being paid like it.

Will top-five receiver money change Flowers? Will he stop calling Jackson to get up at 5 a.m.?

Not at all, he said.

“Ain’t nothing changing — I’m still going to get [Jackson] every day,” Flowers said. “He gotta be ready. Next offseason, we’re doing the same thing.”

Getting Jackson out of bed in the morning will only be Flowers’ second-most important sales job in the next year. There may be no player in the Ravens organization who will be a more important lobbyist than Flowers to make sure Jackson signs an extension.

If you’re wondering how Flowers will continue to justify his massive contract, first remember he’s only 25 years old and has been one of the AFC’s most productive receivers each of the last two years. In that span, he’s accounted for nearly a third of the Ravens’ receiving yards.

While he doesn’t have the rangy, go-up-and-get-it traits of a classic No. 1 receiver, his speed and shiftiness have made him Baltimore’s top option in the passing game by far. Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle compared Flowers to a basketball player who can play at multiple positions on the court.

“I think that’s the best part about him: You can kind of move him all over the place,” Doyle said. “He can play inside. He can play outside. He’s a willing blocker, which he’s proved and put on tape. He embodies a lot of the things that we’re looking for in a lot of different ways.”

But one of the key reasons to keep Flowers in the fold is also to entice Jackson to re-sign, too. Keeping one of Jackson’s closest allies in Baltimore doesn’t guarantee the quarterback will choose to stay, but it’s as good a strategy as any.

Flowers said he wasn’t about to approach Jackson directly about it — but he wants it to happen.

“That ain’t really my conversation to have, but I’d love for him to be my quarterback till I’m done playing,” Flowers said. “It don’t matter to me how long, I want him to be my quarterback, because to me, he’s the best in the world.”

Jackson is under contract for two more seasons, including this one, and until he extends, the Ravens’ front office will twist itself in knots trying to accommodate his increasingly unmanageable cap hit — next season, it is scheduled to more than double to $84.3 million, or more than 26% of the salary cap.

Signing an extension before this season would be preferable to the Ravens, but given that Jackson has said he’s “focused on football” now that camp has started, it might be an overly ambitious goal. Signing Jackson to a new deal by the start of the 2027 offseason isn’t just a preference — it’s a necessity for general manager Eric DeCosta and the front office to have any cap flexibility at all.

But if there is a Lamar whisperer on the team, it’s Flowers. They’ve had a connection since the moment Flowers was drafted in 2023 — reportedly Jackson admired him from afar when Flowers played at lowly Boston College. They have lockers in close proximity in Owings Mills, and Flowers is one of the few players who can consistently rally Jackson into joint offseason workouts in Florida.

That connection shows up on the field week after week. Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver called the Jackson-to-Flowers connection “a nightmare” to defend, which he experienced as an opponent when the Ravens diced up his Dolphins last season 28-6. Even if you scheme well for the initial play call, Weaver said, they can make you pay with their eerie coordination as they improvise.

“It’s almost like they have this connection where, ‘Hey, go here,’ without having to say it or signal anything,” he said. “The next thing you know, it’s like Zay popped out of the ground and he’s wide open.”

As good as Flowers has been, Jackson has helped elevate him. Flowers said their respective skill sets “just kind of matched.” Jackson has been one of Flowers’ most vocal supporters — in June, he said, “We love Zay, we need Zay,” — so it’s evident that Jackson feels Flowers’ presence has made him look good, too.

It’s hard to know where exactly being matched with his favorite target will rank in Jackson’s decision factors in the coming year, but it has to be somewhere on the list.

Jackson and Tyler Huntley took Flowers out to dinner Wednesday night to celebrate his new deal, and Jackson posted a celebratory picture on his Instagram feed.

“Everybody was excited, because the model here in Baltimore was receivers are not really valued,” Flowers said. “And that changed yesterday.”

Receivers are especially valued in Baltimore when they’re this close with the star quarterback. In the quest to re-sign Jackson, every possible edge counts. Keeping Flowers around could be a big one.

With any luck, soon, it’ll be Flowers taking Jackson out to dinner for the latest contract celebration.