OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Baltimore Ravens first-year head coach Jesse Minter called the team together at the end of Tuesday’s practice and delivered news that he wanted everyone to hear.He could have just as easily waited to congratulate wide receiver Zay Flowers later or made the announcement in front of a smaller audience. Minter, though, believed his entire team and all of his coaches would benefit from hearing it at once, simply because of what the four-year, $140 million contract extension for Flowers signified.Produce on the field. Establish yourself as one of the team’s hardest workers. Continually strive to get better. Be a good teammate and represent the right things.Then, reap the reward when the time comes.“When your best players are just the right type of people, and they bring the right mentality and everything marries together, it’s such a great thing when stuff like that happens for them,” Minter said, reiterating the message that he told the team Tuesday. “Nothing better as a coach than to see those guys get what they deserve.”Why talk about Lamar Jackson's contract will only get louderJeff ZrebiecFlowers’ new deal, which keeps him under contract with the team through 2031 and makes him the fourth-highest-paid receiver in the NFL, raised some eyebrows around the NFL. After all, Flowers is just 5-foot-9 and doesn’t project as a prototypical No. 1 receiver. Now, he is being paid more than the likes of CeeDee Lamb, A.J. Brown and Amon-Ra St. Brown.In his three NFL seasons, he’s never finished within the top six in the NFL in receiving yards or within the top 10 in receptions. He has reached the end zone 16 times in 50 NFL games.But here’s what those who are caught up in those statistics might be missing. In three short years, Flowers has already made a compelling case that he’s the best homegrown wide receiver the team has ever produced. In three short years, he’s shown that it’s possible for a receiver to be productive in a run game and tight-end-heavy Baltimore offense, where the careers of many receivers before him have gone to die or never materialized in the first place.And in three short years, Flowers has helped quiet one criticism that has badgered the team’s decision-makers like no other: Why can’t a Ravens team known for its drafting acumen find and develop Pro Bowl-caliber receivers?“The motto here in Baltimore was receivers are not really valued, and that changed yesterday,” Flowers said.It made sense for the Ravens to lock up Zay Flowers, the close friend of quarterback Lamar Jackson, left. (Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)Flowers, 25, has made the Pro Bowl in two of his three NFL seasons, and if his form and how he’s being used this summer in Declan Doyle’s offense is any indication, he’s primed to get to an even higher level.“Zay can do a lot of different things,” Doyle said Wednesday. “I think that is the best part about him. You can kind of move him all over the place. He can play inside; he can play outside. He is a willing blocker, which he has proved and put on tape. He embodies a lot of the things that we are looking for in a lot of different ways. When we talk about building the receiver room, we are trying to build a basketball team. It just so happens that he can play multiple positions on that basketball team.”Flowers and his agent verbally agreed to the deal during Tuesday’s practice. He and general manager Eric DeCosta embraced on the field and Flowers later got loud cheers from his teammates when Minter notified them of the new deal in the practice-ending huddle. On Tuesday night, Ravens quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley took the wide receiver and fellow South Florida native out for dinner.Flowers officially signed the contract Wednesday morning and then was on the practice field about 45 minutes later, making plays in a driving rainstorm on Day 6 of training camp.That the Ravens rewarded Flowers shouldn’t have come as a significant surprise. They’ve shown unwavering belief in Flowers from the beginning, ranking him as the top receiver in a 2023 draft class that also featured first-rounders Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Quentin Johnston and Jordan Addison. They’ve never dwelled on his size because they were always enamored with his speed, explosiveness, playmaking ability and toughness.They simply weren’t going to let their biggest first-round receiver success story walk out the door. They weren’t going to allow Jackson’s close friend and favorite target to enter the 2026 season wondering if his much-desired contract extension would ever come at a time when Jackson’s desire to sign a contract extension is the subject of much speculation.“I would love for him to be my quarterback until I am done playing,” Flowers said of Jackson. “It does not matter how long; I want him to be my quarterback, because to me, he is the best in the world.”The Ravens weren’t going to risk a talent like Flowers, who had made clear that he wanted to be in Baltimore, get close to an open market that is especially fond of paying receivers nowadays.It almost felt like a matter of when, not if. That was Flowers’ belief anyway.“If I am being honest, I was never really worried about the deal getting done,” Flowers said. “That is why I was still practicing, because I knew (DeCosta) was going to take care of me, and he always keeps his word that he was going to take care of me. I never really focused on having to deal with the conversations, talk about the contract. So, that is why I was still out there practicing and going, because it is a bigger role, man. We are trying to get to a Super Bowl.”Playing receiver in Baltimore isn’t easy. Just ask Flowers’ teammate Rashod Bateman and a number of other hyped pass catchers who came before them. Yet Flowers has never struggled under the burden that comes from playing the position as a first-round pick either. He was productive from the jump and his receiving yards have gone up every season. He already ranks fifth all time in Ravens history in catches and receiving yards.During a news conference Wednesday, Flowers explained why he’s never felt any additional pressure. He’s dealt with far more challenging circumstances, far weightier matters. His mother, Jackie Walden, died when he was 5 years old because of a head injury sustained in a fall at a local park. Honoring his football-loving mother and fulfilling her dream for one of her kids to make it big in the sport was legitimate pressure and responsibility.Being one of 14 siblings created its own challenges, too. Flowers had — and still has — a huge support system, but he needed to fight for everything on a daily basis.“I had a long journey here,” Flowers said. “I had a lot of stuff happen to me where it was a lot of pressure, and I didn’t fold. So, it never really took hold of me to have pressure on me because I have a lot of family at home. I had lost family, went to Boston College, had success there. So it was never really pressure. I just played my game, and I believe in myself no matter what.”When the Ravens drafted Flowers, they were smitten with his playmaking ability and explosiveness. Yet, they also raved about his character. DeCosta has spoken several times about how Flowers had a plethora of opportunities to transfer out of a Boston College team that has been mired in mediocrity in recent years, but he stayed, showing loyalty in a program that believed in him.In many ways, particularly with the new contract, the Ravens have shown that same belief and loyalty to Flowers.“It definitely validates how the front office feels about me, how those guys feel about me, how my teammates feel about me,” Flowers said. “They see the work that I put in, and they see everything I do. Everybody felt I definitely deserved it. So, the work does not stop now. We have got to keep going.”