Flowers, a two-time Pro Bowler who led the Ravens with 86 receptions for 1,211 yards and five touchdowns last season, said Harbaugh ran the most physically demanding practices the NFL rules allow.
Every single one.
"Full pads all the time," Flowers said. "However many practices in pads you can get, every single one. We're doing one-on-ones in Week 17. Week 17, we're doing one-on-ones, everybody out there, we're tired, we're still going."
He was asked how players managed that kind of workload.
"We don't," Flowers said. "That's why we had a lot of injuries. Because of how we practiced, how we went. The load was heavy."
Flowers also cited the sheer volume of running baked into each session, saying he logged 10,000 yards of running in each of the first two games of last season as a reference point for what those practices demanded.
The Ravens' 2025 Season in Context
Baltimore finished 8-9 last season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
Lamar Jackson missed four games with hamstring and back injuries. Nnamdi Madubuike was effectively lost after Week 2 with a neck injury that has left his future uncertain. Isaiah Likely and Rashod Bateman each missed at least three games.
Surprisingly, the Ravens actually ranked 12th fewest in games lost to injury last season, which complicates Flowers' theory somewhat.
Ravens WR Zay Flowers on John Harbaugh’s practices in Baltimore
— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) April 17, 2026
“Full pads all the time. However many practices in pads you can get, every single one. We’re doing 1-on-1s Week 17…Low-key, that’s why we had a lot of injuries. Because of how we practiced” pic.twitter.com/dYDqqHRR4b
But the players who did get hurt were essential ones, and a 2025 season with a healthy Lamar Jackson for all 17 games might have looked considerably different in the standings.
Harbaugh was fired on January 6 after 18 seasons, the longest tenure of any head coach in Ravens history.
Whether the practice philosophy played a role in that decision is not confirmed publicly, but Flowers' comments suggest the issue was known inside the building.
What Jesse Minter Has Already Said
Flowers made clear that his very first conversation with new head coach Jesse Minter was about practice.
Minter worked under Harbaugh in Baltimore from 2017 to 2020 before spending four years with Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and then with the Chargers, where he ran a defense that led the NFL in points allowed in his first season.
He knows exactly what John Harbaugh's practice habits look like from the inside.
"He worked with Harbaugh in 2017, so he knows how it was, how we worked with Harbaugh," Flowers said. "So he says, 'You're going to get your work, but it's going to be a little easier on your body. You're going to be fresher for the game.' That was the first talk I had with him: How's practice going to look?"
The Baltimore #Ravens Zay Flowers, Isaiah Likely, and Mark Andrews broke down in tears when finding out about John Harbaugh. #RavensFlock #NFL pic.twitter.com/zeS7oDD0dJ
— NFL Rumors (@nflrums) January 15, 2026
Flowers was also careful to credit what Harbaugh's approach produced.
He praised the former coach's ability to prepare the team for games and said players never had to worry about being surprised by what an opponent would do on Sunday.
The wear and tear was the trade-off, and it is a trade-off that apparently frustrated enough people in the building to become one of the early storylines of the Minter era.
Harbaugh now takes that same philosophy to New York.
Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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