The New Orleans Saints caught a break on Sunday.
Coming off a Week 1 overtime loss, the Saints get the good Ffortune of taking on the Baltimore Ravens without Zay Flowers available to them.
The Ravens’ offense generates its most headlines through QB Lamar Jackson and RB Derrick Henry. Flowers, though, is quite the playmaker in his own right.
He’s one of the NFL’s best undersized wide receivers, and he’s been awesome pretty much from the moment he arrived from Boston College.
Flowers won’t be playing on Sunday, though, which gives the Saints one less thing to worry about and forces the Ravens to rely on less-proven players on the perimeter.
Why Isn’t Zay Flowers Playing Today?
Flowers isn’t playing on Sunday because he has a hamstring injury.
He didn’t participate in practice for the Ravens on Wednesday or Thursday. He did return as a limited participant on Friday, but he was listed as doubtful on the final injury report of the week.
Flowers was then ruled out early in the weekend, forcing the Ravens to officially consider what it’ll be like to play without him.
The speedy Flowers got hurt during Week 1 against the Indianapolis Colts, a game the Ravens won 41-23. He had already put up five catches for 150 yards — in the first half — before he left with his injury and didn’t return.
Ravens WR Depth Chart
The rest of the names that the Ravens will rely on as pass catchers will be much less familiar to Saints fans.
The expected WR1 now is the veteran Rashod Bateman, who had a great 2024 season but a poor 2025 campaign and is also dealing with off-the-field issues.
Beyond Bateman, they’ve got the third-year wideout Devontez Walker, the second-year speedster LaJohntay Wester, the rookie Elijah Sarratt and the journeyman Chris Moore.
The Ravens may rely even more than usual on tight end Mark Andrews, and RB Justice Hill could get more action as a pass catcher, too.
If Flowers had been healthy, it would’ve been a big task for Saints slot cornerback Jonas Sanker, but without Flowers, the Saints can probably play things a bit more evenly — while committing more fully to stopping the run.
If the Ravens can beat the Saints by throwing to their lesser receivers, that’ll be something that New Orleans will just have to deal with.
The Saints come out ahead on the injury front, too, as it looks like Chris Olave will be good to go after a questionable listing. Tyler Shough will have his top target, but Lamar Jackson won’t have his.
Why Zay Flowers Isn’t Playing Today vs. Saints for Ravens