Zay Flowers’ Week 3 status is the kind of injury watch that can change Baltimore’s passing plan before kickoff.
The Ravens’ top wideout is officially questionable with a hamstring injury, and ESPN reports he is expected to test it in pregame warmups. If he does play against the Cowboys, he could be on a pitch count. If he doesn’t, Rashod Bateman may be pushed into a much larger role than the one he has filled so far.
That is the central question for Baltimore at 4:25 p.m. ET in Brazil: how much of Flowers’ workload can the Ravens actually count on, and how much more will Bateman have to absorb if Flowers is limited or unavailable?
Flowers’ practice week did not offer much clarity. He did not practice Wednesday or Thursday, then returned in a limited capacity Friday. CBS Sports also reported that he logged one limited practice during a walkthrough. That is enough to keep him in the conversation for Sunday, but not enough to suggest the hamstring is behind him.
The injury itself is not new. Flowers hurt his hamstring in the Week 1 win over the Indianapolis Colts and missed the Ravens’ Week 2 game against the New Orleans Saints. Before leaving that opener, he was electric: five catches on six targets for 150 yards and a touchdown.
If Flowers is active, the expectation is still that Baltimore will have to manage him carefully. A pitch count would mean fewer snaps and less certainty about how often Lamar Jackson can lean on him in key spots. That matters because Flowers has already shown how quickly he can tilt a game when he is healthy.
It also matters because Bateman is coming off his best game in a while. In Week 2, he caught seven passes for 88 yards and a touchdown, his best single-game total since 2024. That performance gives Baltimore a more credible fallback if Flowers is limited, and it is the clearest reason Bateman is being viewed as the receiver most likely to pick up the slack.
Bateman is already listed by CBS Sports as WR20 in PPR leagues and WR21 in standard formats, a reflection of his current standing as a secondary fantasy option. But that ranking could look different if Flowers is restricted or ruled out. The same receiver who was a complementary piece one week ago could be asked to function as Baltimore’s top wideout the next.
That is what makes Sunday’s pregame testing so important. Flowers’ status is not just a yes-or-no question; it is a workload question. And for the Ravens, that means the difference between a normal passing setup and one in which Bateman has to carry a much heavier share against Dallas.