Zay Flowers is about to get paid.
Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said this week that the team is optimistic about signing wide receiver Zay Flowers to a long-term extension before the 2026 season kicks off. The negotiations have been ongoing for weeks, and the sides are reportedly close on the total value of the deal but still working through the guaranteed money and structure.
Flowers is entering the final year of his rookie contract. The Ravens will pick up his fifth-year option, which will pay him around $16 million in 2027. But both sides want to get a long-term deal done sooner rather than later, and DeCosta is not the type of GM to let a star player play out his rookie deal.
The 3-year veteran will command something like $28-32 million per year on his next contract. That is the going rate for a top-15 wide receiver, and Flowers is comfortably in that range.
His numbers back it up. In three seasons in Baltimore, Flowers has 234 receptions for 2,891 yards and 20 touchdowns. He has developed into a legitimate WR1 and gives Lamar Jackson a true separator on the outside. His route running has improved every year. His deep-ball skills are elite. And he has become one of the best red zone receivers in the AFC.
The Ravens have a lot of decisions to make on the offensive side of the ball over the next 18 months. Lamar Jackson’s contract runs through 2027 but is expected to be extended. Mark Andrews is aging and could be trade bait. Rashod Bateman has been a disappointment and might get moved. Getting Flowers locked up now gives the offense a young core to build around.
The Ravens’ cap situation is manageable. Baltimore has around $18 million in effective cap space for 2026, and Flowers’ new deal would likely have a low first-year cap hit thanks to signing bonus proration. The bigger cap hits would come in years three, four, and five of the extension, which is a very typical NFL structure.
The market is being watched closely across the league. Every young receiver on a rookie deal is going to use the Flowers number as their negotiation baseline. Terry McLaurin, DK Metcalf, and CeeDee Lamb all reset the market when they signed. Flowers will be next.
For the Ravens, this is not just a football move. It is a message to the rest of the roster and the rest of the AFC. Baltimore is committed to keeping its young core intact. Kyle Hamilton is signed long-term. Nnamdi Madubuike is signed long-term. Isaiah Likely will likely be next after Flowers. And Lamar Jackson knows he has weapons around him for the foreseeable future.
Expect the Flowers deal to get done before training camp opens July 29. That is DeCosta’s typical timeline for star extensions. And when the news breaks, the number is going to make Ravens fans very happy and the rest of the AFC North very nervous.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
