Zay Flowers left Ravens training camp Saturday with a quad contusion, head coach Jesse Minter announced, getting ahead of the question before reporters could even ask it.
"Zay did have a quad contusion. I think he will be day-to-day," Minter said in an opening statement after the Ravens practiced in Owings Mills, Md. "We will go ahead and get that out of the way now and answer that question."
Flowers collided with safety Jaylinn Hawkins while trying to catch a pass and stayed on the ground before rising to his feet. Flowers didn't return to practice, but walked inside under his own power, accompanied by a member of the Ravens medical staff.
A quad contusion is a bruise to the thigh muscle caused by a direct blow, distinct from a strain or tear. Mild cases typically resolve within one to two weeks with prompt treatment, which lines up with Minter's day-to-day framing rather than anything more serious.
"You certainly don't like to see that, don't want to see that. You kind of, obviously, hope for the best. That's the reality of it," Minter said. "There's stuff that happens sometimes with contact injuries and non-contact injuries with guys bumping into each other. We try to avoid that as much as we can, especially when we are not in pads. But thankfully, I think he will be OK in the long term."
The timing stings on the surface. Just days ago, Flowers signed a contract extension that further cemented his status as one of the NFL's top receivers. Baltimore is deeper into camp with its first preseason game approaching, but the Ravens don't open the regular season until September 13 against the Colts, giving Flowers more than a month to get back to full speed if needed.
Minter framed any absence as camp doing what camp is supposed to do. "That's like what camp is about — preparing yourself for a game where you may be missing a guy or whatever," he said. "So, it's a great opportunity for other guys to step into those roles and have different guys to run some of the routes that Zay is great at. But I don't expect him out too long."
That opportunity falls most directly to Ja'Kobi Lane — who has been the standout of camp so far even with Flowers healthy — along with Devontez Walker, Elijah Sarratt, and LaJohntay Wester, all of whom should see an uptick in first-team reps for as long as Flowers is out.
Worth watching separately is Rashod Bateman. He's not new to the room the way the others are, but after a few uneven years by his own standard, a stretch of increased target share with Flowers out is exactly the kind of opportunity that could help him reestablish himself in a suddenly crowded receiver room.