The East-West Shrine Bowl is Thursday night and this is one of the first big All-Star games for prospects to impress NFL teams before the 2023 NFL Draft. One player that has seemingly taken full advantage of this is Zay Flowers out of Boston College.
Flowers was a productive wide receiver the past three seasons and in total had 2,715 receiving yards and 26 receiving touchdowns. This past season alone he had over 1,000 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns.
He has continued that strong performance into practice this week in Las Vegas and has been impressing people there with routes like this one that Cam Mellor tweeted.
OK Zay Flowers, OK
— Cam Mellor (@CamMellor) January 29, 2023
@ShrineBowl | #PFNShrine pic.twitter.com/u5gv4uXTs6
Could Zay Flowers be the first wide receiver drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft?
This year the wide receiver position doesn’t have some of the top-tier talent that there has been in years past. There are certainly talented players in this class but there isn’t a clear number one with the assumption being it would either be Quentin Johnston, Jordan Addison, or Jaxon Smith-Njigba that would be the first wide receiver drafted.
However, Flowers might have closed the gap with this top group based on how he has done so far at the East-West Shrine Bowl. He is not a big wide receiver at 5’10” and 170 pounds but has great speed that allows him to beat defenders over the top.
Flowers’ best spot in the NFL is probably out of the slot because of his size but he can certainly play on the outside with the speed he possesses.
The next few weeks will be interesting for the former Boston College wide receiver and he will need another good showing at the Scouting Combine. However, he recently said according to Pro Football Focus, he believes he can run the 40-yard dash in the low 4.3s, and if he does that Zay Flowers has the chance to be the first wide receiver drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft.