Fantasy Football: Zay Flowers Deserves Your Respect in 2026
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Every once and while, a player remains at a discounted cost despite checking many of the boxes we look for in a top producer in fantasy football. Our latest case is Zay Flowers. The former first-round NFL Draft pick is now headed into the fourth year of his career, coming off a great season, and is in the best situation he’s had since entering the league.
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Immediate Production and Growth
Selected at Pick 22 by the Ravens, Zay Flowers quickly translated his skills to the NFL. As a rookie, Flowers scored 12.9 PPR PPG, good enough for WR31, while leading Baltimore in targets, receptions, and receiving yards. The Ravens used Flowers as a quick game/designed opportunity option, evidenced by his 8.4 average depth of target and 43.6% designed target rate. It was a solid rookie season, although he averaged only 1.67 yards per route run. Additionally, he received 10 carries, scoring a touchdown with them, adding to his production.
As a sophomore, he followed it up by again leading Ravens’ pass catchers, growing his role, averaging 12.3 PPR PPG, and finishing as WR32. Flowers’ average depth of target grew to 10.4, and along with it, his yards per route run to 2.34. He handled another nine carries as well, as the Ravens continued to use Flowers in multiple ways.
In 2025, though, Flowers took his game to the next level. He finished seventh in the NFL in receiving yards while averaging 14.3 PPR PPG, good enough for WR12. Like the two years prior, Flowers helped in the run game, adding eight carries and scoring on one of them. Under the hood, Flowers’ advanced metrics looked great as well. Among wide receivers, he finished fifth in yards per route run, third in yards per team pass attempt, and sixth in target separation.
| Year | Target Share | aDOT | YPRR | Half-PPR PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 24.40% | 8.4 | 1.67 | 12.9 (WR31) |
| 2024 | 25.70% | 10.4 | 2.34 | 12.3 (WR32) |
| 2025 | 29.10% | 10.2 | 2.62 | 14.2 (WR12) |
How He Fits with the Ravens
Flowers is a versatile wide receiver who's been used as such during his time on the Ravens. Despite being a smaller player for the position, he’s played mostly outside but has still worked in the slot, too. In his three seasons, he’s had slot rates of 29%, 33.6%, and 31.7%. While mainly an underneath option as a rookie, his average depth of target and route tree have grown since.
As his talents grew, so did his role in the offense, seeing his first read target share increase every season. As a rookie, it started at 22%, then it increased slightly in his second season to 26.4%, and in his third season he hit a career high at 31.2%, which was 18th among wide receivers. Looking to 2026, it’s easy to see that Flowers' role is not only safe, but it could grow more.
This offseason, the Ravens let Isaiah Likely walk in free agency and drafted Ja'Kobi Lane and Elijah Sarratt in the third and fourth rounds, respectively. There was some buzz for Lane and Sarratt before the draft, but both fell past where expected, dampening excitement a bit. Mark Andrews and Rashod Bateman remain, but Andrews looks to be past his prime, and Bateman has never lived up to expectations.
What Not to Like
While Flowers was immediately productive in the NFL and saw his production grow with his role in his three seasons, his ceiling has been capped due to a lack of touchdowns. In total, he’s scored only 16. We know that it's more important to follow volume in fantasy football, as touchdowns aren't a sticky stat. Some players, however, prove themselves to be better or worse than others.
Flowers' touchdown woes could be attributed to a couple of factors. Standing 5’9” and weighing 181 pounds, Flowers isn’t the biggest wide receiver, and he’s never had a red zone target share greater than 22.2%. But we have to wonder if his red zone target share rate is low due to his size, or his offensive coordinator’s preference for bigger players in that area of the field. With new offensive coordinator Declan Doyle in town, that could change.
The other issue he's had in regards to scoring touchdowns is converting explosive plays. He’s seen his deep target share increase in his career from 34.5% as a rookie to 44.7% last season, which was 8th among wide receivers. But the touchdowns haven’t followed. This could be a talent issue for Flowers, or it could be him being on the wrong side of variance thus far. Based on his clear talent, this looks to be Flowers being on the wrong side of variance.
Bottom Line
- Zay Flowers has seen his role grow each year of his career, with 2025 being a true breakout season.
- The one missing aspect of Flowers’ game has been his red zone usage, but there’s reason to believe that could change moving forward.
- As of now, Flowers is being drafted as WR17 according to the 4for4 consensus ADP, making him a true value for 2026 based on his recent production and improved situation.
