Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. Earlier today, new
Speaker 1: Ravens wide receivers Zay Flowers arrived in Baltimore after the
Speaker 1: Ravens took him with the twenty second overall pick in
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three NFL Draft. Flowers arrived to Baltimore
Speaker 1: Friday morning and held the press conference alongside general manager
Speaker 1: Eric Taicassa and head coach John Harbaught. Here's what they
Speaker 1: had to say during that time with the media.
Speaker 2: As I said last night, was earlier in the process
Speaker 2: that we identified Saia as a guy that we thought
Speaker 2: would bring a lot of value to this club. His
Speaker 2: playmaking ability, who he is as a person, his greatest determination,
Speaker 2: his background, all of those things kind of factor in
Speaker 2: and and he's the guy, and we're fired up to
Speaker 2: get him. I think our fan base is gonna love him,
Speaker 2: the community is going to love him. And just welcome
Speaker 2: Jay Flowers.
Speaker 3: Same thing.
Speaker 4: Just Echo couldn't be more excited on behalf of all
Speaker 4: the coaches. Everybody's fired up to have you here. Welcome
Speaker 4: to Baltimore.
Speaker 5: Thank you, I'm excited to be here. I want to
Speaker 5: thank coach Hardball and E. D. C Right what he
Speaker 5: called I'm gonna call you e DC forgive me this opportunity. Well,
Speaker 5: I think with Lamar and the guys on the outside,
Speaker 5: we got something special and we could build here and
Speaker 5: we can get back to what Baltimore avers was.
Speaker 6: Questions see last night you visit your kind of net
Speaker 6: or had a good feeling about What was it you elaborate?
Speaker 5: The last time I visited here, we barely even talked
Speaker 5: about football. It was just everybody in the building was genuine.
Speaker 5: A lot of the places I went to it I
Speaker 5: had to put on a kind of like a front,
Speaker 5: and when I got here, it was just everything was
Speaker 5: just period. It was just genuine. I was playing basketball
Speaker 5: beat a couple of people. But I joyed that visit.
Speaker 3: So everyone read about you, compliments your card working nature,
Speaker 3: and your drive. Where can you attribute that when most
Speaker 3: that is stilled in you?
Speaker 5: I got it from my dad. I used to see
Speaker 5: him get up go to work at four am in
Speaker 5: the morning, and he did that every day Monday through Friday.
Speaker 5: And he'll get up Saturday, wash our clothes at the
Speaker 5: wash house, cook everybody breakfast, and take us to football
Speaker 5: games and then do the same thing Sunday and then
Speaker 5: go back to work Monday, So just see him do that.
Speaker 5: It gave me my drive.
Speaker 7: The other weapons on the outside. We saw that you
Speaker 7: FaceTime and you know Beckham last night Insas City.
Speaker 3: When did that relationship start? Is he somebody that you know?
Speaker 3: How about you looking forward to playing with him?
Speaker 5: So my first time talking to him because we got
Speaker 5: the same trainer back in Florida. My train my receiver
Speaker 5: coach train them too, and he used to watch some
Speaker 5: of my videos and like, all we gotta get together
Speaker 5: and work out. And I think a couple of weeks
Speaker 5: ago I called him and I was like, where you
Speaker 5: think about going? And then he was like, either the
Speaker 5: Ravens or the Giants, I think, And I was like,
Speaker 5: that's crazy because both of those teams I'm predicted to
Speaker 5: go to and then we land on the same team.
Speaker 5: So I could just use them as to learn because
Speaker 5: it's gonna be my first year. I can learn everything
Speaker 5: from him and just play with him. It'll be fun.
Speaker 3: You back to doing you've been.
Speaker 8: Here before, but what if you're like walking back in
Speaker 8: here as a Raven and how.
Speaker 3: Different is it?
Speaker 5: I felt great walking back in the building because everybody
Speaker 5: that that I've seen the first time. It felt like
Speaker 5: I knew him for a couple of years and only
Speaker 5: knew him for a day. So just being somewhere I
Speaker 5: could be comfortable and be myself and still work hard
Speaker 5: and play football is a perfect spot for me.
Speaker 8: So last night you were watching them fire Leschel videos
Speaker 8: of Lamar Jackson when he played to the defender locked
Speaker 8: into the end zone? How fired up are you to
Speaker 8: play with him? And did you ever think that he
Speaker 8: could throwing into football in the National Football League?
Speaker 5: I didn't think so, but they let me fall to him.
Speaker 5: So it's gonna be a lot of plays being made
Speaker 5: on Sunday, Monday, or Thursday, whatever day were playing on.
Speaker 5: So just being able to play with them and have
Speaker 5: all these weapons next to me, I was just doing
Speaker 5: to improve my game.
Speaker 6: Say, there's a lot of pressure that goes with being
Speaker 6: a first round pick, But when you look at this
Speaker 6: roster and you already mentioned Odell, you ever Sean Baben
Speaker 6: another former first round pick, and Mark Andrews.
Speaker 3: How exciting is it for you that you can be yourself?
Speaker 6: But there isn't this expectation that you have to come
Speaker 6: in and be quote the guy.
Speaker 5: Day one, I'm gonna have the guys next to me,
Speaker 5: so I feel like if we all do our part
Speaker 5: and do what we're capable of, we're gonna have a
Speaker 5: very good team.
Speaker 3: You're known for breaking tackles yours after the catch. How
Speaker 3: do you stay to do that.
Speaker 8: When obviously you're not one of the bigger guys, but
Speaker 8: you're so able.
Speaker 3: To do and beef this as well?
Speaker 6: There.
Speaker 5: I mean, I was never one of the bigger guys,
Speaker 5: so I always had to find a way to do it,
Speaker 5: and I'm gonna try to continue to find a way
Speaker 5: to do that.
Speaker 3: Who's in the picture on the medallion runner there?
Speaker 5: That's my mom?
Speaker 3: Why is that important to have in this moment?
Speaker 5: Do you think she started us off playing football? So
Speaker 5: I felt like I needed her with me last night
Speaker 5: and have it with me today. It's just a little flower,
Speaker 5: got my brothers and sisters and each pedal fourteen of us.
Speaker 7: How how did that big family really kind of sharpen
Speaker 7: you sharpen your competitives? Competitiveness and like you said, you
Speaker 7: haven't been the biggest guy that you have been physically.
Speaker 7: You playing in physical Is that in part because of
Speaker 7: having that big family?
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 5: Yeah, believe it or not? Like my brother's tall like
Speaker 5: some of them, like six two six one. I guess
Speaker 5: I got the short end, but but we was competitive
Speaker 5: at everything. I played basketball, the little brothers play, the
Speaker 5: big brothers play football, and it'll be the same thing,
Speaker 5: arraster each other. So it was just it was just
Speaker 5: meant to be that way, and it worked out perfect.
Speaker 9: Say to your mom, say, uh, you know in this
Speaker 9: moment on one of your brothers as well, now after
Speaker 9: in high school, what would you say to them on
Speaker 9: this day if you could.
Speaker 5: Well what I said to them, thank you for always
Speaker 5: being there for me and like and supporting me through
Speaker 5: everything and having my back. So I appreciate them for
Speaker 5: that and being my biggest fans.
Speaker 3: What is that dynamic like of one on fourteen?
Speaker 5: Uh, it's fun actually, like you never shot. You can't
Speaker 5: be shot because you're gonna always be talking because somebody's
Speaker 5: always in the house. You always around somebody, So everybody
Speaker 5: gonna have their own personality, whether it's funny, quiet or
Speaker 5: you just running around playing.
Speaker 3: Probably you watch the NFL football.
Speaker 6: You played good time in college football, But what do
Speaker 6: you anticipate the next level to be, Like, how you
Speaker 6: will be able to transition to the NFL.
Speaker 5: I just I feel like everybody gonna be smarter, faster
Speaker 5: and working hard. So I just gotta do that times
Speaker 5: too and continue what I was doing.
Speaker 10: Is it being from South Florida? Obviously a lot of
Speaker 10: talent comes out of there. This team has a lot.
Speaker 3: Of talent from South Florida. What do you anticipate that
Speaker 3: does for.
Speaker 10: The atmosphere of being in this building and playing football
Speaker 10: with these.
Speaker 5: Guys down in South Florida. When you play with like people,
Speaker 5: you know, it's just boosts. It's just boosts how you
Speaker 5: want to play. It just make you make make make
Speaker 5: you make more plays. So being able to play a
Speaker 5: little more and other playmakers around me, it's just gonna
Speaker 5: make me play harder, work harder, and try to make
Speaker 5: more is to help the team.
Speaker 10: Some of your teammates were highly rated recruits and and
Speaker 10: you were not.
Speaker 3: That coming out of high school?
Speaker 10: Is does that fill you with some sort of pride
Speaker 10: scene them as your peers in the NFL?
Speaker 9: Now?
Speaker 5: I mean it. I did have a chip on my
Speaker 5: shoulder because of that. I mean I still have it
Speaker 5: because I felt like I was an underdog. So I
Speaker 5: just played with a chip and I'm gonna just get
Speaker 5: I'm gonna continue playing like that.
Speaker 9: So last night, you know the connection that you felt
Speaker 9: with the Ravens at the Shrine game when they were
Speaker 9: looking you pretty extensively got Have you think you fit
Speaker 9: steam wise here?
Speaker 10: Uh?
Speaker 3: Sort of?
Speaker 9: Where do you feel you can have to think?
Speaker 3: It's impact?
Speaker 5: In my opinion, I feel like I could play outside,
Speaker 5: inside special teams, wherever you need me to make a play.
Speaker 5: If I could touch the ball any type of way
Speaker 5: to try to make a play, I feel like I
Speaker 5: would be good. And where the jet sweeps, shadow crosses,
Speaker 5: deep balls, part returns, I feel like I could be
Speaker 5: used it anyway.
Speaker 11: Because you players came back in to play Georgia. Did
Speaker 11: you get a chance to watch a munch of tops
Speaker 11: last year you any kind familiarity?
Speaker 5: Yeah? I know at Georgia it was a lot of running.
Speaker 5: But I mean when you got a team like that
Speaker 5: in college, you're gonna continue running the ball to win
Speaker 5: national championships. At this level, you gotta be able to
Speaker 5: do both.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast feed, make
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Speaker 1: to the Zay Flowers introductory press conference.
Speaker 3: Steve Smith has spoken highly of your skills. How were
Speaker 3: you of him?
Speaker 6: And are you comfortable with any comparisons that people may
Speaker 6: want to grow between you and somebody?
Speaker 12: Uh?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable with it because he was a
Speaker 5: smaller guy in the league that was playing bigger than
Speaker 5: his size, and I'm I'm gonna be a smaller guy
Speaker 5: in the league and I'm gonna have to play bigger
Speaker 5: than my size.
Speaker 3: Say, he's the toughest corner you've ever faced? And is
Speaker 3: there a guy you kind of looked at for a
Speaker 3: walk for a while and you love to match up against.
Speaker 5: I don't think any corner gave me a problem in college,
Speaker 5: but facing I don't really got I want to face
Speaker 5: all of them, honestly.
Speaker 3: So he really had four full seasons in college football.
Speaker 3: A lot of guys don't. How much do you think
Speaker 3: that's gonna help you? And did you give a thought
Speaker 3: even last year to.
Speaker 7: Come down NL?
Speaker 5: I gave it a little thought, but I feel like
Speaker 5: I needed to put more stuff on tape, like competitive catchers, blocking,
Speaker 5: just all the small stuff that I didn't do the
Speaker 5: year before that I was able to do this year.
Speaker 12: How pleased are you with how you guys said straight
Speaker 12: out early this off season we were going to upgrade
Speaker 12: this wide receiver with this latest edition.
Speaker 3: How pleased started with how kind of the pieces have
Speaker 3: come together?
Speaker 4: I'm really excited. I feel like there was a plan
Speaker 4: in place and everybody, you know, coaches, scouts, Eric and
Speaker 4: all his group. Joe did a great job scout and
Speaker 4: oised guy who had a really good handle on the board.
Speaker 4: I feel like, you know, you led that Joe and
Speaker 4: did a great job with that and kind of knew
Speaker 4: who he liked. You know, they was our top rated
Speaker 4: receiver pretty I would say one hundred percent consensus, right, Joe,
Speaker 4: one hundred percent. Everybody had him as our guy, and
Speaker 4: for him to be there for us and just kind
Speaker 4: of fill out that room was a great blessing.
Speaker 3: Eric.
Speaker 6: I know when you you scout a lot of these players,
Speaker 6: when when did for you would say when when do
Speaker 6: you remember seeing?
Speaker 3: Maybe it was on tape things like that. How did that?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Last year? First? You know, you know I thought it
Speaker 2: was explosive last year. We talked about him last year,
Speaker 2: and we do. Our scouts do a great job of
Speaker 2: looking at potential juniors that might enter the draft. It's
Speaker 2: not like years ago when we used to start that
Speaker 2: process like after the combine. We start that process in
Speaker 2: the fall. So we watched day at length two years
Speaker 2: ago excited.
Speaker 3: A bottom end.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, one of the things this year.
Speaker 2: I remember, I liked to say on tape and David Blackburn,
Speaker 2: our college director, was going out to the East West game,
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, Zay was there for one practice,
Speaker 2: just one practice. He went out and he put on
Speaker 2: a show and that was it, you know. And I
Speaker 2: asked David, because David was there, and I said, how
Speaker 2: do you look? David said, fast the best guy there.
Speaker 2: And that was basically that was a scouting report. And uh,
Speaker 2: you know, that's just that means a lot when you
Speaker 2: send out one of your best scouts and he comes
Speaker 2: back with that type of assessment. And you know, as
Speaker 2: I said, last night, we had a bunch of guys
Speaker 2: watched Zay and the other receivers and it was clear cut.
Speaker 2: You know, it was a knockout victory. This week. You know,
Speaker 2: everybody thought that Zay would bring the most to the
Speaker 2: table for us this year.
Speaker 3: Is your actually aches in the Boston area viview question
Speaker 3: so much.
Speaker 2: You know, I've been down here now for twenty eight years.
Speaker 2: I don't have as many contacts up there now as
Speaker 2: I used to. I still have an affinity for the
Speaker 2: for the state, the Commonwealth, but uh, but I'm a
Speaker 2: Baltimore guy.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 7: I'm curious how nervous you were getting as you're getting
Speaker 7: closer to your pick, and you knew the Seahawks were
Speaker 7: interested and possibly.
Speaker 3: Taking a wide receiver. You knew the Charterers could take
Speaker 3: a wide receiver.
Speaker 7: You're getting nervous that they could take Is that.
Speaker 2: You know, you always get nervous, But I've learned that,
Speaker 2: you know, there's different levels of nervousness, and in the
Speaker 2: last two years have shown to me that there's always
Speaker 2: nervousness times two, times three. And so you know, the
Speaker 2: draft is the draft. We plan and practice, and you know,
Speaker 2: I've learned from the all great powerful os to always
Speaker 2: be prepared on draft day, and so you know, you
Speaker 2: just get ready for every possible scenario that can happen,
Speaker 2: and of course the best we got some years you don't,
Speaker 2: but you just move on. Is you know, you have
Speaker 2: to have a plan and it goes quick, you know,
Speaker 2: and you know you did get It was a little
Speaker 2: bit nerve wracking because things were falling very nicely for
Speaker 2: most of the round and then all of a sudden, boom,
Speaker 2: boom boom. You start to see that run. And whenever
Speaker 2: there's a run in the draft, you know, it's an
Speaker 2: emotional thing that other teams start to not panic, but
Speaker 2: they start to think, Okay, this is our chance if
Speaker 2: you want to fill that position, And so you always
Speaker 2: worry about I really wasn't so much worried about necessarily
Speaker 2: us not getting Zay where we were, except that I
Speaker 2: was worried about teams behind us coming up over us
Speaker 2: to get Zay. I was a little bit anxious about that.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately it didn't happen and we lucked out.
Speaker 3: So that's Eric as how he handled things.
Speaker 4: How how you from an outside, how do you think, Oh, yeah, poise,
Speaker 4: he's he's like he's stone cold in there, man, he's
Speaker 4: got ice water in his veins. And I see, I
Speaker 4: just saw David Blackburn sitting back there with his whole crew.
Speaker 4: He was just giving me the eye the whole night
Speaker 4: back there, like we're gonna get our guy. We're gonna
Speaker 4: get our guy. Worry. So you knew all along, David,
Speaker 4: what'd you know? It's meant to be?
Speaker 2: Man, I am in the draft is different than how
Speaker 2: I am on game day, different animal, worse.
Speaker 3: Well, the draft is better better.
Speaker 2: We never wish drafts of all time if I was
Speaker 2: as distracted and emotional as I am during games.
Speaker 9: Enjoying your staff, was this a scenario you possibly played.
Speaker 5: Out for him or.
Speaker 4: Oh, man, Jerry, I mean we were really talking about
Speaker 4: exactly which receiver we're going to take. We were kind
Speaker 4: of talking about scheme. But I think once once you
Speaker 4: have a feel for the scheme, then you start putting
Speaker 4: the players into the schemes. They was just jumped to
Speaker 4: the front of the class. It's going to be a
Speaker 4: great fit. Talking to our players. I mean, our players
Speaker 4: are excited already about the two weeks we've had a
Speaker 4: chance to install the scheme so far. And I know
Speaker 4: Lamar is gonna be excited when he gets here. And
Speaker 4: then when he sees this guy Odell walks in the room.
Speaker 4: You already got Nelson here and James is already working
Speaker 4: and Dev's already working. Was just gonna be It's gonna
Speaker 4: be a lot of fun.
Speaker 12: Did you ask Lamar at all about the receivers in
Speaker 12: this draft? Glass, did you have a I don't want
Speaker 12: to say say, but did you get input from him
Speaker 12: about who he would like to have?
Speaker 2: We talked back in January. Yeah, I went down to
Speaker 2: visit with Lamore back in January and we talked about
Speaker 2: the college receivers and one thing about Lamar, if you're
Speaker 2: from South Florida, he's gonna.
Speaker 4: Know you are.
Speaker 2: And he gave me a list. He gave me a
Speaker 2: full breakdown of every receiver in the draft from South Florida,
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, he's got strong opinions on all
Speaker 2: these guys too. You know, he's very loyal to the
Speaker 2: players from that part of the country and so he has,
Speaker 2: you know, a lot of opinions on Zaying. He was very,
Speaker 2: very excited that we got him last night, John.
Speaker 11: And a lot of receivers on this rostering that five
Speaker 11: ten to the six floe one range not like a
Speaker 11: true ex possession that guy.
Speaker 3: I guess what a kind of the.
Speaker 11: Van news to having maybe someone that's seen this in
Speaker 11: the receiver room and the white you're not concerned about
Speaker 11: any confession.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we kind of we had that conversation
Speaker 4: for sure. It's a really good point, and we just
Speaker 4: decided that we were going to go with the guy
Speaker 4: that we thought, you know, was the best guy for us,
Speaker 4: and it was. We just decided not to go position specific.
Speaker 4: The idea that we're going to move guys around. We
Speaker 4: had we have every guy's versatile. Every guy can play
Speaker 4: out there at X. To your point, every guy can
Speaker 4: play Z. And the way the offenses are getting to
Speaker 4: be built now, it's not on this side and that side.
Speaker 4: It's not a set guy in a motion guy anymore.
Speaker 4: I mean, guys are on the ball. Guys are off
Speaker 4: the ball. He goes in motion, he runs a jet sweep.
Speaker 4: He's on the ball, he gets into the slot, somebody's
Speaker 4: coming back the other way. That's just the way the
Speaker 4: offenses are evolving now. It's it's it's fun. You know,
Speaker 4: there's a lot more moving parts to it. So you know,
Speaker 4: we're probably moving away from that little bit. Not that
Speaker 4: we you know, wouldn't have loved. You know, we like
Speaker 4: every kind of guy, but you get the best guy
Speaker 4: for you at this time, and you make the call
Speaker 4: and this is this, this is the guy. So he's
Speaker 4: gonna be a great fit with those other guys. And
Speaker 4: I think it's gonna be tough to defend. You gotta
Speaker 4: make a lot of choices out there, along with the
Speaker 4: running backs and tight ends and the quarterback and a
Speaker 4: strong offensive line. You know, I'm pretty fired up about it.
Speaker 9: He's like, what, how would you describe I.
Speaker 3: Guess Lamar is sort of legend in South Florida.
Speaker 6: And what he means to young guys who grow up
Speaker 6: playing football there is.
Speaker 3: You now look up to them.
Speaker 5: I mean, down there, Lamar legend. Like everybody a Lamar fan.
Speaker 5: You're gonna hear everybod You're gonna see people wearing his jersey.
Speaker 5: No matter where you go, everybody gonna talk about him.
Speaker 5: And I am though South Florida got the best athletes,
Speaker 5: we'll not get a receiver from down there, just as himself.
Speaker 1: So it was a busy day for Flowers as he
Speaker 1: arrived in Baltimore, was introduced to the local media here
Speaker 1: and this was just a fun, busy day for the
Speaker 1: new member of the Ravens. And we have all sorts
Speaker 1: of behind the scenes content posted from his visit to
Speaker 1: Baltimore as well as the draft Thursday night in Kansas City.
Speaker 1: We had the phone call that Eric ta Costa made
Speaker 1: to him on Thursday to let him know he was
Speaker 1: going to be a Raven, as well as a FaceTime
Speaker 1: call between Za and wide receiver Odell Beckham Junior. You
Speaker 1: can watch those on our social media feeds as well
Speaker 1: as our app and our website. And also if you
Speaker 1: want more analysis of this draft, make sure to check
Speaker 1: out the Lounge podcast feed for all sorts of analysis
Speaker 1: and breakdown of everything happening on draft weekend, and before
Speaker 1: you go, make sure you subscribe to the Ravens Press
Speaker 1: Pass feed. Also leave a rating and a review. There's
Speaker 1: going to be more coming over the course of the weekend.
Speaker 1: Saturday is a big day as the Ravens have multiple picks,
Speaker 1: so stay tuned for more to come.