Zay Flowers accuses John Harbaugh of causing late-season injury spike

Zay Flowers accuses John Harbaugh of causing late-season injury spike originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Baltimore Ravens' Pro Bowl wide receiver Zay Flowers has publicly cited former head coach John Harbaugh's late-season practice habits as a central reason for the team's injury problems in 2025.

Flowers made the statement during an interview on the 4th and South show:

"Bro, we full pads.  Bruh, we doing one-on-ones Week 17. Hey, I ain't gonna lie…Week 17, we’re doing one-on-ones. Everybody out there, you tired, you still going."

When asked how the team manages with a lot of practices:

"We don’t. That was low-key. That’s why we had a lot of injuries, ’cause how we practiced," he said. "Yeah, but I talked to the new coach. He worked with Harbaugh in 2017, so he knew how it was. He knows how we worked with Harbaugh. You gonna get your work. It is gonna be a little bit easier on y’all body. Gonna be fresher for the game. That was the first talk. I was like, ‘Hey, how practice gonna look?...like we running all week. Then Saturday, Friday… Friday, Saturday.

This is roughly three months after Harbaugh was fired following Baltimore's 8-9 finish and the franchise's first missed playoff appearance since 2021.

Harbaugh has since been hired as the New York Giants' head coach, and Jesse Minter was hired to replace him in Baltimore.

The Ravens' 2025 season started to fall apart even before we reached the final week. They lost their last three home games and were eliminated in a 26-24 Week 18 loss to Pittsburgh on a missed field goal. Harbaugh left on January 6, after 18 seasons.

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