Report reveals extent of Zay Flowers’ knee injury

The Baltimore Ravens are facing a decent outcome with Zay Flowers, all things considered.

The Ravens Pro Bowl receiver Flowers had to leave Saturday’s Week 18 game against the Cleveland Browns with a right knee injury. After making a catch in the second quarter, Flowers tried to cut to get more yardage and ended up grabbing his knee as he hit the turf (video here). He did not ultimately return to the game, which Baltimore eventually won 35-10.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported in the hours after that Flowers is believed to have suffered a sprain, pending the results of an MRI. Rapoport adds that it is not considered a major injury for Flowers but adds that Flowers could still miss next week’s playoff opener for the Ravens.

The 24-year-old Flowers led Baltimore this regular season with 74 catches for 1,059 yards. He also ranked fourth on the team with four receiving TDs.

On the bright side for the Ravens, Flowers still has a chance to return this postseason, and the team should have enough offensive firepower left to survive the wild-card round (which will be against either the Los Angeles Chargers or the Pittsburgh Steelers). But the fact that Flowers could miss any sort of playoff time at all will only intensify the debate over why he was even playing on Saturday in the first place.