NFLDB Scouting Profile: Zay Flowers, Boston College, WR

Zay Flowers spends the entire day with the Patriots. The WR took a long pre-draft visit, establishing a level of familiarity that makes him an intriguing potential first-round option for New England

Ric Serritella

Apr 11, 2023

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Zay Flowers Boston College Eagles #4 Pos: WR Ht: 5092 Wt: 182 Hand: 0928 Arm: 2928 Wing: 7228 40: 4.42

One-Liners

An undersized but twitchy athlete that creates separation up and down the route tree with his movement skills.

Ric’s 2023 Evaluation:

An undersized but twitchy athlete that creates separation up and down the route tree with his movement skills and ability to play X, Z, Y alignments. Lots of usage in jet, fast and return motion. Smooth releases off the line, variety of skips, head movements and fluidity. Easy speed to separate on overs, posts and fades. Also points to his route running variety with a tree that works through the vertical plane, intermediate areas and underneath. Electric with the ball in his hands. Obvious burst to get up the field with functional agility and quickness to allocate yards after the catch. Smaller frame, shorter and slighter than your traditional boundary X or flanker. Shows up in his catch radius and when facing bigger corners. Questionable ability to elevate and high-point the ball. Rounds off too many in-breaking routes. Not always sharp on his slants or in-breakers. Flowers may not be prototypical in terms of size, but neither is his athleticism. A rare blend of make-you-miss, with the speed to win vertically, Flowers carries an athletic profile that is noteworthy. Pairing this with an unlimited route tree and utility as a gadget guy, and we have a well-rounded skillset. The size element affects multiple portions of his game, but he can continue to elevate his draft stock come the All-star circuit and pre-draft testing. Jim L. Mora compares him to Isaac Bruce.

Ric’s 2022 Evaluation:

X, Z, Y alignment. Lots of usage in jet, fast, and return motion. Smooth releases off the line, variety of skips, head movements, and fluidity. Easy speed to separate on overs, posts, and fades. Also points to his route running variety, with a tree that works through the vertical plane, intermediate areas, and underneath. Electric with the ball in his hands. Obvious burst to get up the field, with functional agility and quickness to allocate yards after the catch. Smaller frame, shorter, and slighter than your traditional boundary X or flanker. Shows up in his catch radius and when facing bigger corners. Questionable ability to elevate and highpoint the ball. Rounds off too many in-breaking routes. Not always sharp on his slants or in-breakers. Flowers may not be prototypical in terms of size, but neither is his athleticism. A rare blend of make-you-miss, with the speed to win vertically, Flowers carries an athletic profile that is noteworthy. Pairing this with an unlimited route tree and utility as a gadget guy, and we have a well-rounded skillset. The size element affects multiple portions of his game, but he can continue to elevate his draft stock come the All-star circuit and pre-draft testing.

Strengths

Sudden feet to slip press and race ahead of coverage.
Stair-steps man coverage out of leveraged positioning.
Routes are fast and maintain their momentum through turns.
Lower body flexion to corner tightly at break points.
Hands are average but overall ball skills impress.
Tracks and catches deep balls with above average poise.
Works back to the throw when needed.
Very slippery as an open-field runner.

Weaknesses

Shorter arms and smaller hands.
In too much of a hurry at times.
Routes need better salesmanship and attention to detail.
Needs to do a better job of finding optimal holes in zone coverage.
Might lack play strength to win contested catches as a pro.
Teams might have to live with more drops than they would like to see.
By Lance Zierlein
NFL Analyst

Quotes:

Don't sleep on Zay Flowers as a first-round prospect. He's there for us (and more than one team). He's only going to further improve his NFL grades in Vegas at the ShrineBowl and during the draft process. Exactly what NFL teams are looking for on and off the field at WR.

Eric Galko, Director of the East-West Shrine Bowl via Twitter.

"Stories like Zay who had the opportunity to go get a ton of money to leave, as he is getting phone calls from other schools, but instead calls me and decides to stay because he cares about his team because he cares about a real degree and because he wants to finish what he started. We need to get this guy the ball more. I told him, he is not going to be able to go out after games this year he is going to be so damn tired. He is going to catch punts and return punts and touch the ball over and over again. That's my job as a head coach." -- Boston College Head Coach Jeff Haffley on WR Zay Flowers

Background:

Born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to parents Willie Flowers and Jackie Walden, Xavien Kevonn Flowers has thirteen siblings. In high school, the Eagles playmaker was listed as a three-star recruit by 247Sports. The same outlet’s composite rankings listed him as the 1202nd best recruit in the nation, the 139th best wide receiver recruit in the country and the 165th best recruit in the state of Florida. A standout at wide receiver and defensive back at University School, Flowers helped lead his team to back-to-back Florida class 4A semifinal appearances as a junior and senior. A communication major in Boston College’s Morrissey College of the Arts & Sciences, Flowers has been an impact player for the Eagles since his freshman year. He played in all 13 games (starting two) in his freshman season and recorded 536 total yards on 49 total touches for four total touchdowns. In 2020, Flowers started all eleven games and put up 892 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on 56 receptions. He also recorded 41 rushing yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Flowers models his game off of Antonio Brown and has trained with him in past offseasons.

Participated in East-West Shrine Bowl and invited to NFL Combine. Measured 9.48-inch hand, 29.5-inch arm, 72-inch wingspan. Ran 1.53 10-yard split. Flowers has 13 siblings. Was a three-star recruit by 247Sports. A standout at wide receiver and defensive back at University School, Flowers helped lead his team to back-to-back Florida class 4A semifinal appearances as a junior and senior. He was a communication major in Boston College’s Morrissey College of the Arts & Sciences. Has trained with Antonio Brown in the offseason. Repped by LAA Sports.

Zay Flowers spent all of (4/6/2023) Thursday in New England, taking an extensive pre-draft visit with the Patriots, who hold the 14th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Flowers, a Wide Receiver from nearby Boston College projected to land in the first round, spent Thursday with Patriots’ Offensive Coordinator Bill O’Brien learning the teams’ offense, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.

While teams usually discuss schemes with draft prospects in order to attempt to gauge their football IQ, Flowers and the Patriots seem to be establishing an extra layer of familiarity before the draft.

New England is in desperate need of Wide Receiver help, as only Jakobi Meyers managed to eclipse 600 receiving yards for the Patriots in 2022.

Flowers has been rising up draft boards, as the 5-foot-11 receiver attempted to assuage concerns about his size by gaining 13 pounds during the pre-draft process without losing much of his speed, running a 4.42-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.

Flowers could be a much-needed playmaker for New England, as his explosiveness after the catch could be a perfect pairing with Mac Jones, who often needs production from his receivers in the open field to create big plays in order to compensate for his lack of elite arm strength.

With the Patriots hoping to move on from the disaster that was the Matt Patricia-run offense in 2022, Flowers could be an exciting addition to a receiver room that has grown stale over recent seasons.

Ric Serritella (@RicSerritella) / Twitter

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