The NFL is about to witness a new, improved and refreshed version of Lamar Jackson this season, warns Baltimore Ravens team-mate Zay Flowers.
The Ravens missed out on the playoffs for the first time since 2021 last season after an 8-9 finish to the campaign, falling to a decisive loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final week to surrender the AFC North title.
Two-time MVP Jackson missed four games amid an injury-disrupted season as the Ravens endured a 1-5 start that would leave them playing catch-up.
Even upon his recovery, Jackson never quite looked his blistering, game-shredding best, but has been tipped to return stronger as Baltimore resume their Super Bowl push this September.
“They’re going to see a different version this year,” wide receiver Flowers told Sky Sports.
“Under a new system, he gets a fresh start. He’s going to be healthy. He’s going to take care of himself, everything. You’re going to see a new version of everybody, if I’m being honest. Soon, real soon, everybody. Real soon.”
Flowers has asserted himself as Jackson’s most trusted target after leading the Ravens with 86 catches for 1,211 yards and five touchdowns last year.
Jackson himself completed 192 of 302 passes (63.6 per cent) for 2,549 yards and 21 touchdowns to seven interceptions, while rushing for a career-low 349 yards, having never previously posted fewer than 695 in a campaign.
Still, he remains one of the premier faces of the NFL and its pool of Super Bowl contenders having long buried pre-Draft misconceptions to become one of football’s most dominant and rounded play-callers.
“He stayed true to himself. He doesn’t change for nobody,” Flowers said of what makes Jackson special. “He doesn’t change for anything going on in his life.
“He’s always going to be him and you can count on that. And I feel like consistency and being yourself and having confidence in yourself and putting God first, you’re always going to win. There’s nothing that can beat that. And that’s what he got.”
Flowers has had three years to become accustomed to the wizardry of his quarterback. For others like second-year LaJohntay Wester, it is still hard not to sit back in awe.
“It’s crazy,” said the Ravens wide receiver and returner. “Some of the things that he does, it’s just unreal. Like I saw him scramble last year in practice and put the ball behind his back, he put the ball behind his back like he was playing basketball.
“That’s something that quarterbacks are not allowed to do. Quarterback coaches are telling them ‘that’s something you don’t do’, but it’s Lamar Jackson, it’s Lamarvelous.
“It’s just amazing. So seeing him work every day, pull out the stuff that you see him do on Sundays, he’s doing it throughout the week in practice. It’s just him being him at the end of the day.”
It has been an offseason of change for Baltimore as the team parted with head coach John Harbaugh after 18 seasons before appointing former Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter as his successor.
“It’s a new opportunity for everybody,” said Flowers. “Everybody who didn’t have a chance to prove themselves the way they wanted to with under coach Harbaugh, they got a new chance with Jesse Minter. And you can feel that energy in the room with everybody.
“He brings energy. He brings energy, everybody wants to play. Everybody is super excited to get that opportunity to just start fresh and get a new opportunity and push for the same goal that we all want. And that’s a Super Bowl.”
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) looks to throw against the Miami Dolphins during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
There is a mutual nod and smile between Flowers and Wester as they echo the word ‘energy’, both buoyed by the arrival of one of football’s most coveted minds.
“I’m very excited,” added Wester. “New coaching staff, coach Jesse Minter, he is bringing a new energy into the building. I feel like that’s something that the Ravens was missing last year, and we got it this year.
“Everybody is on board, everybody, they got a good plan for us.”
The Ravens have been banging on the Super Bowl door behind Jackson and one of the league’s most talented rosters, losing in the Divisional Round of the playoffs three times since 2019 as well as suffering an AFC Championship Game defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs at the end of the 2023 season.
They have been prominent figures in a fierce AFC race to prosper in life beyond Chiefs dominance, and will be expected to compete from the front once more in 2026.
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“If you look around, you see Derrick Henry, then you look to your right and see Lamar Jackson, you’re like, ‘oh yeah, I got to get right, I got to grind and I got to put my best foot forward’,” said Flowers.
“It only makes you better with great players around you. It’s only going to push you to be the best version of yourself.”
More opportunities could meanwhile await Wester, who was used almost exclusively as a return after arriving as a sixth-round pick out of Colorado last year.
“I’m a young guy, so just seeing guys like Zay, Derrick Henry, Lamar every day going hard, that made me want to go even harder just to impress them,” he said.
“I’m growing too as well, but it’s just the fact that these guys are already solidified. These guys are legends from my city.
“Just to be around them, you don’t want to mess up. You want to be on point. You want to have your ducks in order.”
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