Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers says he’s looking forward to a different approach to practices with new head coach Jesse Minter, who won’t break the team down the way Flowers says John Harbaugh did.
Flowers said on the 4th and South podcast that Harbaugh put the Ravens through contact practices as often as NFL rules allow, and that by the end of the season players were exhausted from the wear and tear on their bodies.
“Full pads all the time,” Flowers said. “However many practices in pads you can get, every single one. We’re doing one-on-ones in Week 17. Week 17, we’re doing one-on-ones, everybody out there, we’re tired, we’re still going.”
Asked how the players manage that workload, Flowers answered, “We don’t.”
“That’s why we had a lot of injuries,” Flowers continued. “Because of how we practiced, how we went. The load was heavy.”
Flowers said that in his first conversation with Minter, who was a Ravens assistant before Flowers was drafted, he asked for reassurance that the team would be more cognizant of taking care of players’ bodies.
“Yeah, I talked to the new coach,” Flowers said. “He worked with Harbaugh in 2017, so he knows how it was, how we worked with Harbaugh. So he says, ‘You’re going to get your work, but it’s going to be a little easier on your body. You’re going to be fresher for the game.’ That was the first talk I had with him: How’s practice going to look?”
Ravens players will be glad to hear Flowers’ comments. Giants players may be in for a rude awakening.
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