{"id":869086,"date":"2026-04-18T10:45:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869086\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T10:45:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:45:27","slug":"baltimore-ravens-star-wide-receiver-zay-flowers-blames-former-head-coach-john-harbaugh-for-teams-nagging-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869086\/","title":{"rendered":"Baltimore Ravens star wide receiver Zay Flowers blames former head coach John Harbaugh for team’s nagging injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

ZAY Flowers has an explanation for the Baltimore Ravens\u2019 recent injury issues.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Ravens<\/a> wide receiver is placing the blame on former head coach John Harbaugh<\/a>, 63.<\/p>\n

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Baltimore Ravens star Flowers #4 of the Baltimore Ravens warms up before a September 2024 game Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Flowers warms up before an October 2023 game Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Flowers<\/a> has spoken out against his former head coach\u2019s push for physical practice sessions.<\/p>\n

He has suggested that this could be a factor behind the Ravens\u2019 extensive injury list.<\/p>\n

The receiver explained his thoughts during his appearance on the 4th and South<\/a> podcast on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Flowers noted that Harbaugh maximized the number of full-padded practices allowed under the collective-bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n

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CAM DO ATTITUDE<\/p>\n

Titans issue Cam Ward injury update on No. 1 Draft pick’s shoulder injury<\/p>\n

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He added that this continued throughout the season despite players already being worn down.<\/p>\n

\u2018You don\u2019t [manage the workload].\u201d Flowers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLow key, that\u2019s why we had a lot of injuries. Because how we practiced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several injuries to key stars blighted the Ravens\u2019 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n

Most notably, quarterback Lamar Jackson, 29, suffered a string of setbacks<\/a> that saw him miss their Week 17 clash with the Green Bay Packers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Flowers also put forward that Harbaugh led too many running-based practices during his time with the Ravens.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re running all week,\u201d Flowers continued. \u201cThen Friday-Saturday, I\u2019m like, \u2018damn, my legs.\u2019 Now my legs start to recover on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

But things are set to change as the Ravens shocked the NFL<\/a> with the firing of Harbaugh<\/a> after the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh had been in charge of the franchise for 18 years.<\/p>\n

He posted a .614 winning percentage during his time, including a win at Super Bowl<\/a> XLVII.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tHow to watch the NFL Draft\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe 2026 NFL Draft starts on Thursday April 23 – and it’s sure to be a spectacular event.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

*If you click a link in this boxout, we may earn affiliate revenue.<\/p>\n

Fernando Mendoza<\/a> is widely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick by the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> \u2013 but will it happen?<\/p>\n

Round 1 takes place Thursday 23 April from 8 pm ET with rounds two and three Friday at 7 pm ET.<\/p>\n

And the action will conclude Saturday 25 April with rounds four to seven from midday ET.<\/p>\n

You can watch all the action live on ESPN <\/a>and NFL Network<\/a> from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Fans can sign up and watch the huge NFL showpiece by following the links below.<\/p>\n

However, their failure to reach the playoffs proved critical after an 8-9 campaign.<\/p>\n

Jesse Minter, 42, has taken over as the Ravens\u2019 new head coach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Minter previously ran the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>\u2018 defense.<\/p>\n

Flowers has suggested that Minter is expected to give his team a lighter workload during the 2026 NFL season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ZAY Flowers has an explanation for the Baltimore Ravens\u2019 recent injury issues. The 25-year-old Ravens wide receiver is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,7,6,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-869086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-baltimoreravens","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-ravens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116425310036681416","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}