Zay Flowers, Ravens Agree to $140M Contract Extension, Updated NFL Salary Cap Ahead of 2026 Season

The Baltimore Ravens and wide receiver Zay Flowers has agreed to terms on a new contract extension, per ESPN's Adam Schefter, who provided the details.

It's unclear how the extension will affect the Ravens' salary cap in future seasons until if and when the public gets the year-to-year details, but one can surmise that this will decrease his gaudy 2027 cap number of $27,298,000. (His 2026 cap number is a manageable $4,466,140.)

Per Over the Cap, the Ravens have $16,398,506 in cap space for 2026. However, they are over the cap by $64,938,090 in 2027 (both numbers are pre-Flowers deal).

This Flowers contract should help matters for 2027.

Of note, teams can use extensions to decrease cap numbers in future years. For example, the Seattle Seahawks previously picked up wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba's fifth-year option for $23.852 million but soon signed him to a four-year, $168.6 million extension. His 2027 cap number has since dropped to $15.6 million, per Over the Cap.

Flowers was beginning the fourth season of a five-year rookie contract after the Ravens picked up their fifth-year team option (2027) on his deal.

The Ravens selected him with the 22nd overall pick in the 2023 draft. He has made the Pro Bowl each of his last two seasons and just amassed 86 touchdowns, 1,211 receiving yards and five touchdowns in 2025.

To put those numbers in perspective, no other Raven wideout had more than 22 catches or 330 yards last year. He's an invaluable member of the passing attack, so it's clear why the Ravens wanted to keep him around long-term.

Flowers is now under contract through 2031 after this four-year extension was tacked onto the end of his rookie deal.

From 2028-2031, Flowers' contract will carry an average annual value of $35 million, tied for fourth-most in the NFL, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The Ravens had $84.3 million in cap space in 2028, per Over the Cap, so they had plenty of leeway to take Flowers' new contract on, and that's without any other cap-related moves (releases, restructures, extensions) to free up more room.

So the Ravens got a big signing done as they look to return to the playoffs after just missing out last year. They enter this season under new leadership at head coach (former Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter) with a new mind leading the offense (ex-Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle) so we'll see how that affects Flowers and the rest of the Ravens' offensive personnel soon enough.