Ricky Pearsall vs Zay Flowers: Who Should You Start?
Ricky Pearsall and Zay Flowers are both viable fantasy wide receivers heading into 2026, but their 2025 production tells two different stories. Ricky Pearsall averaged 7.8 PPG across 9 games with the San Francisco 49ers, while Zay Flowers posted 11.8 PPG in 17 appearances for the Baltimore Ravens.
A 4.0-PPG gap gives Zay Flowers the edge on paper, but paper does not account for Thursday night matchups, weather games, or a star defender returning from injury. The real question is not who was better in 2025, but who is the better start this specific week.
Target volume is the story here. Zay Flowers saw 118 targets in 2025, while Ricky Pearsall drew 53. That workload gap usually translates into a higher weekly floor for Zay Flowers, even in weeks where Ricky Pearsall posts the bigger ceiling game. Consistency-minded managers lean toward target share; boom-bust managers chase the upside.
Ricky Pearsall has his bye in Week 9, and Zay Flowers rests in Week 14. Managers rostering both need waiver wire depth at wide receiver for those two weeks, and that is exactly the kind of planning DraftCall's matchup engine surfaces automatically so you are not scrambling on a Sunday morning.
