If Zay Flowers is to be believed, the Giants will want some extra protection for John Harbaugh’s practice.
The Ravens wideout blamed the team’s health issues on Harbaugh’s full-bore style of practice.
“Full pads all the time,” Flowers told the “4th and South” podcast in an episode released Thursday. “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.”
Harbaugh was fired by Baltimore after an 8-9 season — his 18th with the franchise — marred by injuries to key players, including quarterback Lamar Jackson.
For Flowers, the culprit was obvious.
“That’s why we had a lot of injuries, because of how we practiced, how we went,” he told hosts and ex-NFLers Leonard Fournette and Jarvis Landry. “The load was heavy.”
Harbaugh landed with the Giants in a seismic offseason move, while the Ravens hired former Baltimore assistant Jesse Minter.
“He] knows how we worked with Harbaugh,” Flowers said. “So he’s like, ‘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?’”
Not that the 2023 first-round pick didn’t take anything positive away from his former coach.
“How he prepared for games, he can get anybody prepared,” Flowers said. “He’s good at getting you ready to go play. Not just speeches, just the way we practiced. How he gets you prepared to go play and hit and do your job.”
In three pro seasons under Harbaugh, Flowers racked up 3,128 yards and 14 touchdowns on 237 receptions — including a career-best 1,211 yards and 86 catches in 2025.
The coach, meanwhile, comes to the Giants with a career record of 180-113, a 13-11 mark in the playoffs and a Super Bowl win (2012), in a move that was celebrated by fans of the franchise.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
