The Ravens are also feeding Flowers the ball. The Rams’ Puka Nacua, Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and 49ers’ Mike Evans are the only wide receivers with a higher target share than Flowers’ (34.1%), per Next Gen Stats.

Last season, Flowers had a 25.1% target share. Every receiver except one (the Cowboys’ George Pickens) who posted more yards than Flowers had at least 45 more targets than Flowers’ 118.

“I hate the term ‘No. 1 wide receiver’ because there are plenty of guys in this league that if they got 10 targets, they would be balling. I think it’s about what you do with your opportunities,” former Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith said.

“I think Zay Flowers has proven that if you give him opportunities, he’s going to turn them into big plays and make an impact on his team. So, therefore, he’s a guy that you have to try to get the ball to. Zay hasn’t done anything different than what Zay’s already done in the past. He just has more opportunities, and the coaches are doing an excellent job putting him in positions to create space, creating good matchups for him, and he’s able to let his natural ability shine.”

This past offseason, Flowers had a meeting with Doyle and came away feeling like he was in store for a big season.

“He was like, ‘We’re gonna run this offense through the playmakers, everybody that make plays,'” Flowers said. “I was like ‘OK, now I gotta go back home and really get to work.”

Every day but Sundays this past offseason, Flowers woke up at 5 a.m. to drive to the gym about 50 minutes away. He lifted, got treatment, drove back home, ate breakfast, went to a field and ran routes, went back home, rested, caught more balls at night around 8:30 p.m., ate dinner, then went to bed. Rinse and repeat.

Jackson also introduced Flowers to boxing a couple years ago. Several days a week, the star teammates went for extra boxing cardio before eating breakfast back at Flowers’ house, where his sister cooked. Jackson said Flowers pushes him to wake up early.

But the truth is, Flowers’ work ethic didn’t really change. He only shifted his routine up by a couple hours this offseason to beat the Miami traffic.

“We’ve seen it since his rookie year; he’s been the same player. All he knows is grind,” Jackson said on “The Lounge” podcast. “His work ethic is extremely out of this world. That’s why he’s the type of player he is. This year, I feel like he will have a monstrous year – hopefully a record-breaking year.”