Baltimore Ravens WR Zay Flowers Makes NFL Top 100 Debut

Coming off his best season to date, in which he posted 1,000-plus receiving yards and earned a Pro Bowl nod for the second year in a row, Baltimore Ravens star wide receiver Zay Flowers got the ultimate recognition of his achievements and improvements by being voted to the NFL Top 100 Players list for the first time in his young career, coming in at No. 71.

Zay way ✈️@ZayFlowers pic.twitter.com/kYL12O0CO6
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) July 10, 2026

Unlike the Pro Bowl or Associated Press All Pro teams, this annual rankings list is voted on exclusively by active players, and Flowers not only made his debut but is the first Ravens player to be revealed on the 2026 version of this list, which is based on last year's performances.

One of Flowers most memorable moments from the 2025 season was the Ravens entire Week 17 game against the Green Bay Packers on the road. They prevailed 41-24 on historic Lambeau Field to keep their playoff hopes alive after wearing down and eventually breaking the will of the opposing defense over the course of the game.

“I literally saw their defense go from being hyped and getting ready to tackle to everybody just like ‘Nah, we don’t want to tackle no more’, and I saw (defensive backs) running back, linebackers moving out the way, it was crazy,” Flowers said.

With two-time league MVP-winning quarterback Lamar Jackson out with an injury, the Ravens turned to former Pro Bowl backup Tyler Huntley, a heavy dose of Hall of Fame running back Derrick Henry and got four catches on five targets for 30 receiving yards and a touchdown from Flowers.

Flowers finished as the Ravens' leader in targets, receptions and receiving yards for the third year in a row as he took his game to an even higher level in 2025, despite the offense as a whole taking a step back last year. His 1,211 receiving yards were the seventh-most in the league and second-most in the AFC, behind only Ja'Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals, and he tied his career-high in total touchdowns from scrimmage with five receiving and one rushing.

“He’s explosive,” Las Vegas Raiders All Pro pass rusher Maxx Crosby said. “For some reason, people don’t give Zay his flowers.”

The two star players nearly became teammates earlier this offseason, but the Ravens backed out of the blockbuster trade to acquire Crosby just before the official start of the new league year after a failed physical. That didn't stop him from showering Flowers with well-deserved lofty praise for continuing the hot start to his career.

“He’s a hell of a player, man, and he’s just going to keep getting better,” Crosby said. “He hasn’t cracked close to where he’s going to go if he continues working.”

A veteran player who got a first-hand experience of what it's like to try to contain Flowers last year as a defender for the reigning AFC champion New England Patriots but is now his teammate in Baltimore is safety Jaylinn Hawkins, who also spoke very highly of him.

“He got it. He’s nice,” Hawkins said. “He gets in and out of breaks so quick and then he can burst. He can take it all the way to the crib.”

While the Patriots were able to pull off a second-half comeback against the Ravens in Week 16, and Flowers had a costly fumble at the end of the game, before that, he was shining bright under the national spotlight on Sunday Night Football. He hauled in all seven of his targets for 84 receiving yards and took his scrimmage total over 100 with an 18-yard rushing touchdown off a handoff out of the backfield.

Zay Flowers takes it himself for the lead!

NEvsBAL on NBC
Stream on @NFLPlus + Peacock pic.twitter.com/iRatb21gFD
— NFL (@NFL) December 22, 2025

Hawkins was one of the several New England defenders who failed to stop Flowers from wiggling his way into the end zone on the go-ahead play and praised former adversary turned brother-in-arms for his twitchiness and elusiveness in the open field so highly that he likened his moves to a deejay working the turntables to remix a song or beat.

“He’s a special talent, and Zay’s the most explosive player in the National Football League,” Ravens safety Malaki Starks said.

While the second-year pro's statement may come off as bold hyperbole about a teammate, Flowers film speaks for itself. He is a nightmare to try to guard and is even scarier to try to bring down once the ball is in his hands. One of the areas of improvement he needs to make is ball security and situational awareness, as he has gotten too loose with the ball in some costly moments for the team in big regular and postseason games in his first three years in the league.

Overall, Flowers is well-deserving of being on this list and could be much higher next year if he continues to raise his level of play and increase production at the rate he's been on. Under first-year offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, he might just wind up having a monster season that puts him in Offensive Player of the Year consideration.

Predicting Ravens yet to be revealed

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) hands off to running back Derrick Henry (22) against the Cincinnati Bengals. — Nov 27, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) hands off to running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first half against the Cincinnati Bengals at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While Flowers was the first on the team to be unveiled on this year's Top 100 list, he certainly won't be the last. Despite the Ravens coming off a disappointing 2025 season that saw them finish 8-9 and make some wholesale changes on the roster and coaching staff, there were still some other star players who balled out last year.

Even though he posted a losing record as a starter for the first time in his career at 6-7 and was limited to just 13 games as a result of a litany of injuries that continued to mount and plagued him for most of the season, Lamar Jackson still deserves a spot on this list. He played in one fewer game than Patrick Mahomes, who missed the final three weeks with a torn ACL and has also yet to be revealed on this year's list. Jackson threw just one fewer touchdown with 21 and four fewer interceptions than the Kansas City Chiefs star, who had 11 passes picked off.

Elsewhere on the Ravens offense, Henry is primed to make his eighth straight appearance on the annual list and could crack the top 10 or 20 for the fifth time after finishing second in the league in both rushing yards (1,595) and touchdowns (16) in 2025.

On defense, versatile safety Kyle Hamilton is a lock to make the list coming off his third straight All Pro season, in which he recorded 100-plus tackles for the second year in a row and made a litany of other impressive plays all over the field and formation. Despite making his fourth straight Pro Bowl, inside linebacker Roquan Smith might not be a lock to make the list for the fifth year in a row after what was a down season for him by his usual illustrious standards, as he failed to make many impact plays outside of a fumble return for a touchdown in Week 2.

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