OWINGS MILLS, Md. — When Zay Flowers tried to go over the middle in a seven-on-seven drill to make a catch, he was met by safety Jaylinn Hawkins, and their knees appeared to collide. When Flowers almost immediately dropped to the turf, all of Baltimore seemed to hold its breath.

The Ravens took a pair of sighs of relief Saturday afternoon, though.

Flowers was down on the field for several moments, before struggling to walk off the field where trainers spent time working on his knee and leg.

Minter revealed that the worst-case scenario had been avoided, Flowers suffered a quad contusion and will be day-to-day moving forward.

The entire organization could take one expensive sigh of relief.

“You hope for the best,” Minter said after practice. “There’s stuff that happens sometimes. You hope that it happens when you’re in pads. But, luckily, I think he’ll be okay.”

Baltimore just committed $140 million to Flowers on Tuesday, including $108 million guaranteed to be the field-stretching focal point of the Ravens’ passing game.

The second sigh of relief for the Ravens, though, is repeatedly coming in the form of second-round rookie Ja’Kobi Lane.

Lane, 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, is a contested catch factory, and he flashed that ability significantly on Saturday.

Early in Saturday’s practice, Lane streaked deep downfield along the sideline and despite blanket coverage by cornerback Nate Wiggins, pulled down the reception for a touchdown.

Lane’s most impressive catch of the day came later, though.

“You’re far enough in where there is consistency now,” Minter said after practice, of Lane. “So, there’s consistency of making really contested, nice catches. Being a really friendly target for the quarterback, and he’s doing it every day. He’s learning a lot. The offense is completely different than he’s used to in college.

“A lot of [those catches], whether it was Nate [Wiggins] or Marlon [Humphrey], they had really good coverage on him, and he’s making nice plays. He’s getting a chance to season himself against what I think are two really, really good corners, who play at a high level. It’s really good competitiveness.”

Last season at Southern Cal, Lane caught 49 passes for 745 yards and four of his 18 collegiate touchdowns.

This summer is becoming a crash course on surging up an NFL depth chart.

Now with Flowers potentially missing at least a few days and maybe a few weeks of practice, the former USC standout is about to get an even more extended look than the concerted effort Minter and Lamar Jackson are trying to give him this summer.

“Lamar and I talked about this early on, just keep throwing [Ja’Kobi] the ball,” Minter said. “Let’s figure it out. Throw him the ball in traffic. Throw him the ball when he’s covered, just to see. Every time he makes a play, that trust grows. I think you’re starting to really see it.

“It’ still early, but you love to see that consistency from Ja’Kobi, and I know that Lamar does, as well.”

Here are some key takeaways and analysis from Saturday’s Ravens practice …

Jackson put on a show, as per usual.

Whether it was connecting with Lane, or the timing that he has with Flowers, Jackson seems to be in a good place in new offensive coordinator Declan Doyle’s system, even if figuring out how Mark Andrews, Matt Hibner, and Josh Cuevas are going to come close to replicating the production that Doyle has come to expect from the tight end position in his previous stops.

Vega Ioane is making his presence felt.

The former Penn State standout, and the Ravens’ selection with the No. 14 overall pick in April’s draft has been dominating up front along the line of scrimmage all camp, and that was evident on Saturday morning.

It was easy to see Ioane’s impact in the running game.

The 6-foot-4 and 320-pound Ioane has the potential not just to be a road-grader in the running game, but to provide some stability along the interior of an offensive line that is looking to weather losing stalwart All-Pro center Tyler Linderbaum, who signed with the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency.

The biggest box that Lane will likely need to check in the coming weeks of practice and during the preseason — especially if Flowers is sidelined, is how frequently he can make the routine catches look mundane and if he’s up for an expanded role this early in his development.

One thing is absolutely certain, though, Lane already makes the ridiculous catches look routine.

Saturday, Lane came back to the football along the sideline despite a defensive back being in his face, and made an acrobatic one-handed catch from a Snoop Huntley jump ball before getting both feet down in bounds to complete the reception.

In an offense where it is difficult to find consistency from the wide receiver position, especially given how significant the running game plays in the philosophy around here, Lane looks the part of the complementary weapon to Flowers that the Ravens have been looking for for years.

There is major optimism inside the Under Armour Performance Center that a major bounce-back year is loading for veteran linebacker Roquan Smith.

A lingering hamstring injury clearly impacted Smith last season, on his way to finishing with 76 total tackles but being charged with 12 missed tackles from Pro Football Focus and allowing opposing quarterbacks a 102.3 passer rating when targeting him.

Smith, whose play seemed to dip last season, arrived here for training camp 15 pounds lighter than he left last winter, and is already looking much quicker and more explosive.

On the first full-team rep of practice, Smith burst into the A-Gap to blow up a run up the middle for a one-yard loss.

If Smith can bounce back, and the Ravens’ revamped pass rush built around Trey Hendrickson and a potentially healthy Nnamdi Madubuike are as advertised, that’s going to be a strong foundation for Minter’s defense to build on.

Monday’s 4 Downs will go in-depth on the impact Minter is already making on the Ravens, and we will be hitting the road to East Rutherford in the near future, to get a look at the New York Giants. Stay tuned.