I will feel better about the Ravens’ selection of Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers if Baltimore can find a potential starting cornerback.

It’s clear the Ravens have figured out that their ground-and-pound offense won’t work, especially in the postseason. Unfortunately, it took them years to move in another direction.

I like Flowers’ speed, something that has been lacking in the Ravens’ offense. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.42 seconds and tied for fifth in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 12 touchdown catches in 12 starts last season. The team needed someone who could stretch defenses and allow wide receivers Rashod Bateman and Odell Beckham Jr. and tight end Mark Andrews to work underneath.

I have more faith in new offensive coordinator Todd Monken being able to work Flowers into the offense than former coordinator Greg Roman. The 5-foot-9, 182-pound wideout’s size is a concern, though. The Ravens had a similar receiver that size in Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, their first-round pick in 2019, and that didn’t work out too well. Last year at this time, the Ravens traded Brown to the Arizona Cardinals for a first-round pick. Hopefully, Flowers is better and much tougher.

The Ravens still need to find a cornerback, but they only have four more picks to do it, and the next one isn’t until No. 86 overall in the third round. They want to be a strong passing team like the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals, and that makes sense since those teams have been dominant the past two seasons. But the Ravens need a strong outside corner who specializes in press coverage and can take out the other team’s top receiver. They don’t have a player of that caliber on the roster, and it doesn’t appear they want to bring back veteran cornerback Marcus Peters, who is still a free agent.

I was hoping the Ravens might select Maryland cornerback Deonte Banks with the No. 22 overall pick in the first round, but they decided to go with Flowers. Banks went two picks later to the New York Giants, who traded up to secure the Baltimore native and Edgewood graduate.

Flowers is desperately needed, but so is a top cornerback. If that happens, the selection of Flowers will look a lot better.

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