Ravens star Zay Flowers says John Harbaugh made practice too hard: ‘The load was heavy’

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Baltimore Ravens star wide receiver Zay Flowers is looking forward to practices without John Harbaugh running them.

Flowers, 25, played under Harbaugh for three seasons and said his former coach put the Ravens through hard practices, as the veteran coach ran as many contact practices as allowed by the NFL rules. The wide receiver even attributed the Raven’s injuries to the hard practices..

“Full pads all the time,” Flowers said during a recent appearance on the 4th and South podcast. “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.”

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Zay Flowers and John Harbaugh standing on the sideline at Acrisure Stadium

“That’s why we had a lot of injuries,” Flowers said. “Because of how we practiced, how we went. The load was heavy.”

Flowers was asked how players managed the heavier workload. “We don’t,” he responded.

The two-time Pro Bowler cited how many yards he ran in practice as a testament to what Harbaugh’s practices were like.

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Head coach John Harbaugh walking on the football field at M&T Bank Stadium.

“(In) the first two games of last year, bro, I (ran) 10,000 yards (each),” Flowers said. “I ran 20,000 yards in two games and still ran 4,000, 5,000, 4,000 (yards), in practice that week.”

New Ravens head coach Jesse Minter coached under Harbaugh for four seasons, and Flowers was concerned about how the practices would be run. The former Boston College star said the first thing he asked Minter about was how the practices would be ran.

“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?”

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Zay Flowers of the Baltimore Ravens scoring a touchdown at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh

While practices may have been hard under Harbaugh, Flowers was still very productive. Last season in 17 games, he caught 86 passes for 1,211 yards and five touchdowns as the Ravens’ top receiver.

Flowers’ comments also could serve as a warning for what New York Giants players should expect from Harbaugh in his first year.

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