Zay Flowers Could Sneak into the First Round of the 2023 NFL Draft

First Round Mock welcomes our newest writer Nick Martini, and right off the bat, he believes we may see a surprise by the name of Zay Flowers in the first-round of the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft.

The story behind Flowers

Heading into the draft this April, there’s generally three wide receivers (WR) who top the list for most people.

-TCU WR Quentin Johnston

-USC WR Jordan Addison

-Ohio State WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

You’ll see these three mainstream headliners in any order for most NFL Draft analysts.

However, there’s Flowers too. He’s an experienced and twitchy playmaker out of Boston College who could fight his way to be in the mix as the top receiver prospect in this draft class.

Production

This Boston College receiver was uber productive during his four-years there. He dealt with inconsistent quarterback play throughout that time span. Yet, he still managed to post 200 catches for 3,056 yards, and 29 touchdowns!

Flowers earned first-team ALL-ACC honors twice in 2020 and 2022, and third-place conference honors in 2021. While he could have opted out his senior season and decided to enter the 2022 NFL Draft, instead he returned this past season and had himself a nice 1,000+ yard, 12 touchdown season for the Maroon and Gold. That earned him a spot on the Biletnikoff Award semi-finalist list (an award named after NFL receiving legend Fred Biletnikoff and given annually to the most outstanding receiver in college football).

Where Flowers Shines

In today’s NFL, the wide receiver position is getting more and more important. Team’s need more than two or three good, reliable pass catchers for an offense to be proficient. Flowers isn’t likely to be your number one receiver, but he can make life a nightmare for defenses nonetheless.

Flowers thrives with the ball in his hands.

He’s a monster when it comes to yards after the catch (YAC), with about half his hards in 2022 coming after he made the grab. On the average, he went for 6.5 yards after receptions this past season.

Flowers is a fluid route runner, and he’s a twitchy athlete. He’s got great quickness and speed bursting off the line of scrimmage – – the kind defensive backs are forced to respect because while he can take it deep, he can also snap off his routes at any step.

For a guy who is 5’10” and 172 pounds, Flowers is very capable of making plays downfield at the catch point. He’s extremely flexible and fluid with his hips (in a cornerback type of way) that makes adjusting to the ball as well as changing direction easy for him.

And his whip route is virtually un-guardable.

Where Flowers Lacks

Like I mentioned earlier, the NFL is seeing more and more teams increasing the value of the WR position. However, with that being said, there are still teams that won’t take much of a look at a 5’10” receiver.

Flowers doesn’t have that freaky wingspan or reliable jump ball potential that many teams seek.

He additionally had some drop issues (2022: 78 receptions on 130 targets for a catch rate of 60%). Over the course of his career at Boston College, he had 200 receptions on 361 targets for a catch rate of 55%).

Flowers will have to iron out that issue to create trust with a quarterback at the next level.

An important draft season

Flowers is headed to the East-West Shrine Bowl in early February, where I’m excited to watch him go up against some good competition in front of countless NFL scouts and executives.

He should thrive in one-on-one drills and be a reliable target for quarterbacks on the underneath stuff in a game that features unfamiliar teammates.

A quality performance at this showcase event with a good pro day, and expected Scouting Combine numbers should solidify Flowers as a serious option for many teams in the upcoming draft. He should be intriguing for teams that are looking for a reliable playmaker who has serious vertical threat abilities.

Game Film Reviewed and 2023 NFL Draft Grade:

Rutgers ’22

Duke ’22

NC State ’22

Pros: Fluid runner, great, twitchy athlete. YAC monster, nightmare in space. Noticeable change in speed when wanting to accelerate and get vertical.

Cons: Small build without much frame to grow on. Has had some drop issues.

Draft Grade: Mid-to-Late First-Round/Early Second-Round

Getting Flowers into a good system where they get him some touches and let him be the playmaker he is, should be his ticket to success in the NFL.

Nick Martini is a college student that has a passion for sports, but in particular football. He’s loved the game since a very young age, and to this day is a die hard Bengals fan. He has aspirations of a career in the scouting world upon finishing school and right now he covers the NFL Draft for firstroundmock.com.