Harbaugh: Ravens First-Round Pick Zay Flowers 'As Advertised'
When the Baltimore Ravens selected receiver Zay Flowers with the No. 22 overall pick in April's draft, coach John Harbaugh had a pretty good idea of the player he was getting.
Still, there's an element of unknown until summer workouts begin - though fortunately for Harbaugh and Baltimore's coaching staff, the wait lasted just over a week, when rookie minicamp kicked things off.
The Ravens have now spent considerably more time around Flowers, from minicamp to "football school" in the lead-up to OTAs ... and Harbaugh's views of the former Boston College standout have only been confirmed.
"Zay looks just as advertised," Harbaugh said. "It's just the first two install days, but I'd say everything that you expected to see, you saw."
Harbaugh added that Flowers will be in the mix to return punts this season, while quarterback Lamar Jackson said he's "very excited" to have another explosive South Florida native on the offense.
So, why the buzz around Flowers? In his words, it's because he can "do it all" - and really, Harbaugh's laundry list of positive traits seems to endorse that idea.
"Quick, good hands, very smart," Harbaugh said. "Picking things up really quickly, playing every position right now across the board with what we've installed, catching the ball well."
Of everything, the last thing mentioned is perhaps the most important - at least in the eyes of Ravens special teams coordinator Chris Horton.
Flowers brings some return experience from his time at Boston College, but Horton has continued to stress the fundamentals with him - starting with the "catching the ball" part ... because once he does, the rest of the rep has loads of potentials.
"He is dynamic with the ball in his hands," Horton said. "I think a lot of the same things that you saw from him on offense - catching the football, with the ball in his hands, the after-the-catch running - all those abilities translate over to the punt return game."
This is perhaps one of the better instances of Baltimore's hands-on experience with Flowers living up to, if not exceeding the hype. Per Horton, the 22-year-old "did a great job" of securing punts at minicamp and looked natural doing so.
"It was easy for him," said Horton.
Considering the capital the Ravens used to acquire the "quick," "smart," and "dynamic" Flowers, strong early returns are largely the result many hoped for - and thus far, he's delivered.
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