ExtremeRavens Posted September 3 Posted September 3 Zay Flowers raised a few eyebrows when, during his first rookie minicamp with the Ravens, he requested extra leg workouts from the training staff. It was a rare ask for a first-year player, let alone a wide receiver, those in the building said. It was also telling. Despite setting franchise records for most catches (77) and receiving yards (858) by a rookie last season and being one of the best rookie wideouts in the league, the Ravens’ 2023 first-round draft pick spent part of this summer torching his legs by running hills at a former trash dump, Visa View Park in Davie, Florida, not far from where he and his nine brothers and four sisters grew up. He also often worked out five days a week at nearby gym PER4FORM, where he spent about 90 minutes a day under the watchful eye of co-owner and director of programming Zac Cardone. In between, Flowers worked two to three days a week on his shifty footwork and route-running with Tevin Allen (colloquially known on Instagram as Goldfeet) on the same youth field where Flowers’ older brothers once competed against Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. “Zay has always been a grinder,” Cardone, who like Allen has trained Flowers since he was a freshman at NSU University School in Fort Lauderdale, told The Baltimore Sun. “When I trained him in high school, he was always in the top one or two on every rep. That’s continued right throughout. “If Zay’s in town, he’s gonna be getting [a workout] in with me first thing in the morning.” The focus in those sessions is centered around strength and explosiveness and is as detailed and specific as the routes Flowers runs. In doing contrast training — which is when a strength exercise like squats is followed by a power movement such as vertical jumps — Flowers improved his strength and explosive power. Compound sets — pairing two exercises that target different muscle groups with minimal rest in between — shocked his muscles into growth and sent his metabolism into overdrive. And negative reps, or eccentric training, helped create bigger, stronger muscles while making connective tissue such as ligaments and tendons more resilient. Put another way, a typical workout for Flowers, who finished last season at 174 pounds and is now up to 180, looked like this in the offseason: Monday: Lower body explosive day in the weight room and pushing a weighted sled. Tuesday: Upper body explosive day. Wednesday: Recovery and pilates. Thursday: Lower body day functional and hills running. Friday: Upper body functional day. When he wasn’t pushing weights or running hills, Flowers honed his release, routes and separation in workouts with Allen at the Pompano Cowboys’ youth field, where guerrilla style social media videos displayed the quickness and moves that earned him the nickname “Joystick” from Jackson his rookie year. The Ravens’ Zay Flowers signs an autograph before a preseason game against the Packers in Green Bay. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer) Allen, who played at Illinois State, founded Gold Feet Global with his brothers, Tyrie and Junior, in 2014, a few years after getting benched as a sophomore and learning to impersonate Hall of Fame receiver Chad Johnson’s workout videos. That’s when the proverbial light bulb went off, and since then, the trio’s clientele has exploded. Among the receivers they’ve worked with are Deebo Samuel, Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, Elijah Moore and former Raven Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. The group hasn’t been limited to pass catchers, either, with Jackson and fellow quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Tua Tagovailoa all working with them as well. Among the drills Flowers focused on were his get-off at the line of scrimmage, second-level releases, top-of-route releases, downfield throws and option routes. “Every day is something different,” Flowers told The Sun. “A lot of [my ability] is natural from playing backyard ball with my brothers. [Allen] brought it to where I could do it every play, that I could be more consistent with it and I’m more game ready with it.” After a sensational rookie season, though, Flowers says he wants more. “When he comes down here and we can really focus on our program, his explosiveness goes to another level,” Cardone says of Flowers. “When Zay’s legs are strong, he’s just different.” The great separator The metrics of what makes Flowers different, Cardone says, are the results. Last season, his 77 catches ranked third among rookie receivers behind only Los Angeles Rams sensation Puka Nacua and Kansas City Chiefs speedster Rashee Rice. Flowers’ 53.6 yards per game were fourth among rookies behind Nacua, Houston Texans standout Tank Dell and Rice. And his 108 targets tied for second among first-year receivers with Minnesota Vikings first-round pick Jordan Addison. But when it came to separation, no one was better than Flowers. At 57.4%, per FTN Fantasy, he was well ahead of Rice (51%) and Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill (50.3%). And his 396 yards after the catch — many of which came on 23 screen passes, the second-most for a rookie in the Pro Football Focus era — ranked 15th among all receivers. “He’s a weapon that they really have not had,” NBC Sports analyst and former NFL receiver Cris Collinsworth said. “This is a team that if Zay is what I think he is, which I think is a very, very special player, and can provide that sort of explosiveness on the outside that they’ve just been waiting for for a long time. … He’s a cornerstone going forward for a really good team.” The next progression for Flowers, naturally, would be downfield. Last season, he averaged a ho-hum 8.56 air yards per reception, good for only 62nd in the league. Of his 77 catches, all but 16 came on passes that were in the air for 5 yards or less. The addition of bruising four-time Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry and the return of tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely should help, and Flowers’ face lights up at the prospect of more deep balls. “College, it was all deep balls for me,” Flowers told The Sun, “so running a lot of routes underneath was kind of new to me.” It’s hard to argue his development, however, with Flowers’ 85% success rate against zone defenses, which he saw on 60% of his routes, putting him in the 90th percentile of receivers, per Reception Perception. He also ranked fifth in the NFL with an open-target rate of 89.7%, per PFF. Still, there’s reason to believe that he can and will see more deep throws this season. Flowers’ second-best route last season was the post, which he was successful on 87.5% of the time. Other routes he tortured defenses on included comebacks (100%) and digs (86.8%). There is, of course, also a greeter grasp of the offense and his budding relationship with Jackson. “You can see that with players as they gain experience — they ask questions, have ideas, have thoughts,” Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken said. “Like, ‘Can we do it this way? What about this? What about this?’ When you’re younger, you’re just trying to learn it — it’s hard to be engaged when you’re not sure yourself. That’s where he’s really come a long way.” Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, left, knocks the ball loose from Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers at the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter of the AFC championship game. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) In Zay he trusts After Flowers’ costly fourth-quarter fumble at the goal line against the Chiefs in last season’s AFC championship loss, one of the first people to reach out to Flowers was Jackson. The quarterback texted Flowers to let him know that everyone makes mistakes. He then visited Flowers at his house the next two days to further console him. “I know how important it is to him — that moment, how important it is to all of us and how people would be about what went on during the game,” said Jackson, who added that Flowers is like a little brother to him. “But all of us play a part — it’s a team sport at the end of the day, and I was letting him know that.” Months later, in the hot South Florida sun, the two moved forward from that devastating moment in a constructive way, working out together on the same field Jackson once dazzled on as a young boy while also spending time together other off of it. Flowers told The Sun that they worked on timing and adding moves to the top of his routes, as well as things that Jackson likes from his receivers. Though neither played in the preseason, their chemistry was obvious throughout training camp. “I’m seeing him attack the ball, [and] I’m seeing him when the cornerback has outside leverage on an out-breaking route; he’s dropping him, and he’s winning,” Jackson said. The time together also allowed Flowers to move forward from what was a tumultuous offseason that included being investigated over an alleged domestic incident earlier this year. Baltimore County Police suspended the investigation in February with no charges, and the NFL later concluded that there was “insufficient evidence” on whether Flowers violated the league’s personal conduct policy. In the wake of the alleged incident, Flowers said he wanted to focus on being a “better person” and to build his reputation in the Baltimore community, particularly with kids. Though he declined to discuss what happened at the time, he reiterated his desire to have an impact off the field. “It’s always been important,” he told The Sun. “Before the situation even happened, I was doing stuff in the community. I’m just gonna stay the person I am and do what I do.” With the 2024 season upon him, that includes being one of the most talented and impactful young receivers in the game. “He’s had my trust,” Jackson said. “[With] him catching the ball and doing what he does, that’s all a quarterback wants.” View the full article Quote
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