After missing the playoffs for the third straight season in 2025, the New York Giants decided it was time for a change, firing Brian Daboll after four seasons in charge and opting not to bring back interim boss Mike Kafka. Instead, New York made a splash, bringing in John Harbaugh after the long-time Baltimore Ravens boss was fired following 18 seasons with the team. Harbaugh brought several of his most trusted options with him, including 14 members of his former coaching staff in Baltimore. His presence incentivized tight end Isaiah Likely and fullback Patrick Ricard to sign with the Giants in the offseason.
For Likely, the move to New York offers him an opportunity to become the full-time, undisputed top tight end option. Likely appeared in 40% and 44% of the Ravens’ snaps across the first two seasons of his career and a slight majority of their snaps in his third and fourth seasons, but Mark Andrews garnered a higher snap share in all four of those seasons. Andrews also recorded more receiving yards in each season in which both were on the roster. Likely’s only competition for snaps this season is Theo Johnson, who had a decent season in 2025 but has never ranked higher than 53rd by Pro Football Focus’ positional grades. Meanwhile, Likely was the sixth-best of 74 qualified tight ends in 2024 before slipping back to 59th in 2025.
Likely’s best season came in 2024, when Lamar Jackson was healthy for the entire campaign and produced one of the best quarterback seasons in NFL history, completing 66.7% of his passes for 4,172 yards, 41 touchdowns, and four interceptions while adding a further 915 yards and four scores on the ground. That Baltimore offense also saw Derrick Henry rush for 1,921 yards and 16 scores. Jaxson Dart showed plenty of promise in his rookie season as a dual-threat talent, throwing for 2,272 yards and adding 487 more on the ground, but he’s not Jackson. Cam Skattebo also isn’t anywhere near the quality of Henry, and this offensive line likely won’t block for Dart as well as that Ravens unit blocked for Jackson. Likely finished as TE13 that season, and he faces an uphill battle to repeat that production in 2026.
Dart’s strengths don’t align with Likely’s. Likely was both most active and most effective on throws up the middle of the field in 2025, and Dart was more efficient while throwing to either sideline than to the middle on both throws of zero-to-nine and 10-to-19 air yards that season. Jackson was also better at throwing to 11 of the 12 zones in 2024 than Dart in 2025, and even if Dart demonstrates some progression in 2026, he’ll still almost certainly trail Jackson to just about every zone. Plus, Dart was pressured on 23.3% of his drop-backs last season, a much higher rate than Jackson was pressured at in 2024 (19.7%). That’s before accounting for the fact that Jackson is a much better passer under pressure than Dart. Likely’s target share might go up slightly because Matt Nagy’s offenses have previously prioritized tight ends, but Likely is no Travis Kelce, Nagy’s tight end throughout his stint with the Kansas City Chiefs, and Malik Nabers is a better WR1 than any of the Chiefs’ top options over that span.
So far, Likely has been drafted as TE13 in 12-team non-PPR drafts, with an ADP of 136.2, only narrowly ahead of Kelce. Given all the uncertainty surrounding the Giants — whether or not Dart will be able to stay healthy, the new offense, and how Skattebo might look after suffering a season-ending leg injury that had him contemplating retirement — that might be a little bit too high. I’d rather select the Buffalo Bills’ Dalton Kincaid (who ranked second among qualified TE’s last season by PFF’s grades), as well as Jake Ferguson, who should thrive in an ultra-efficient Dallas Cowboys offense if Dak Prescott remains on the field.
