Ravens WR Zay Flowers is growing into an elite receiver. Are more touchdowns next?

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Zay Flowers had the most important touchdown of the Ravens’ 2025 season, and then he didn’t.

He’d given them a lead with 140 seconds remaining in Week 18, then watched the defense fritter it away against the Steelers. The Pro Bowl wideout had made it look so easy in that fourth quarter, stunning Pittsburgh with 50- and 64-yard touchdown catches only six minutes apart, that it was hard to believe the end zone had ever seemed impenetrable.

Flowers scored once in the Ravens’ opener, a 41-40 collapse against the Buffalo Bills. He scored twice in their finale, a season-ending 26-24 loss at Acrisure Stadium that wasted one of Flowers’ best-ever games. Over those intervening 16 weeks, however, the Ravens’ leading receiver had just two touchdowns, and none from Week 2 to Week 14.

That was perhaps the only blemish in Flowers’ otherwise elite season: 1,211 receiving yards (second most in franchise history), 86 catches (fourth most in franchise history) and 2.53 yards per route run, a top-five mark in the NFL among qualifying receivers, according to Pro Football Focus. Flowers finished seventh leaguewide in receiving yards — and tied for 46th in touchdown catches (five).

“He’s a great player,” coach Jesse Minter said after Thursday’s training camp practice. “He can thrive at any area of the field. There’s so many variables and circumstances that lead to plays, whether they end up in touchdowns or not. I know the type of player that he is, that he’s working to be. I expect him to be really productive for us, no matter where the ball is at on the field.”

Flowers’ scoring struggles last year were inextricable from the Ravens’ red-zone struggles. The team scored touchdowns on only 47.5% of its trips inside the opposing 20-yard line (27th in the NFL), a steep drop from 2024, when the Ravens had the league’s most efficient red-zone offense (73.4%).

The challenge for offensive coordinator Declan Doyle this season will be finding how much more Flowers can contribute in cramped quarters. In the open field, his smaller frame is less of a hindrance. Outside the red zone last season, he had 79 catches on 107 targets for 1,184 yards and four touchdowns, according to Sports Info Solutions.

Inside the 20, however, the funnel dried up. The 5-foot-9 Flowers was targeted just 11 times, had seven catches for 27 yards and scored one touchdown.

“I just want to get better every year,” Flowers said Thursday. “I want to do better than I did last year, improving at every part of my game. Route running, catching, contested catches, everything. So I just want to get better, man. That’s what I’m here for, and these coaches are going to help me do it.”

The Ravens do not need Flowers, who has 16 career touchdowns (14 receiving, two rushing), to turn into a fantasy football darling. There’s room for improvement in their red-zone running game, which faltered after injuries hampered quarterback Lamar Jackson. And general manager Eric DeCosta’s investment in the Ravens’ wide receiver room could give Jackson other options if Flowers is blanketed in the red zone.

Ja’Kobi Lane, who provided the early highlight of camp with a leaping downfield grab Thursday, had 12 touchdown catches in 2024 for USC and was a magnet for pass interference penalties last season. Fellow rookie Elijah Sarratt led the Football Bowl Subdivision with 15 touchdown catches last year at Indiana, a handful of them in contested-catch situations. Even Rashod Bateman, who’s had a promising start to camp after a disappointing 2025, found the end zone nine times in 2024.

It’s unclear what the pecking order will look like in 2026; the Ravens haven’t had a red-zone drill through their first two practices.

But Flowers figures to be involved, somehow, somewhere. Asked whether he expected Doyle’s attack to lead to more end-zone trips, he smiled: “I hope so.” This could be an “everything” offense for Flowers, he said — short-range targets, intermediate targets, deep targets, touches behind the line of scrimmage.

“He’s going to use his playmakers,” Flowers said. “He’s going to make sure his playmakers are touching the ball and contributing to the game. So whoever the playmakers are, that’s who’s going to be, I feel like, touching the ball and getting the job done and helping us get it done.”