The New York Giants may have found themselves a stud. Offseason signing Isaiah Likely erupted in his debut with the team in primetime on Sunday Night Football, finishing as the week’s top-scoring tight end in fantasy football prior to the final game of Week 1.
The question now becomes whether Likely can keep it up. Is he a fantasy must-start moving forward?
Isaiah Likely fantasy outlook
We’ve seen glimpses of Likely’s ceiling in the past, but he’s rarely put it all together on a consistent basis. The tight end spent the first four seasons of his career with the Baltimore Ravens, totaling no more than 477 receiving yards or 42 catches in a single campaign. Both of those marks came in 2024, when he posted a career-best season with six touchdowns as well. However, he spent the majority of his pro career working behind Mark Andrews on the depth chart as the third option or lower in the team’s passing game.
Now, the path is cleared for a career-best season from the 26-year-old. Likely departed for the Giants as a free agent, reuniting with former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. Clearly, the coach wanted to bring in a familiar talent, and based on the Week 1 usage, it seems he may become a key part of the New York offense. The tight end saw eight targets against the Dallas Cowboys, bringing in all of them for 78 yards and two touchdowns. To top it off, the performance came in primetime on Sunday Night Football, putting an exclamation point on his debut with New York in front of a national audience.
In that season opener, Likely scored a grand total of 27.8 fantasy points in PPR format, qualifying him as the top-scoring tight end of the week. Is the elite finish a sign of things to come?
It may be best to temper expectations just a bit. Likely was awesome on Sunday, but he certainly won’t be getting into the end zone twice a week for the next 16 games, and he only gets to play against the Cowboys’ defense one more time this year. However, there are some clear reasons to feel encouraged that he may be a weekly must-start in fantasy football moving forward.
First off, his target share was fantastic. Likely finished with eight looks, the second most of any Giants player not named Malik Nabers. No other player earned more than four targets, a sign that perhaps the tight end really is a central part of the passing attack. He also paced the position group with a 49% snap share, playing two more snaps than Theo Johnson did and 10 more than Chris Manhertz. It doesn’t sound like a big difference, but the route numbers tell more of the story. Likely ran 22 routes on the evening – Johnson ran 14 and Manhertz ran just three. Harbaugh is well aware of Likely’s limitations as a blocker, but he’s ensuring that he’s active as a receiving option when he does get on the field.
Touchdown production isn’t necessarily sticky from week-to-week, but the target share and route data shows us that Likely is clearly the top receiving tight end on New York’s depth chart. With little real competition outside of Malik Nabers, the tight end looks like a true second option in the passing attack, which is quarterbacked by an up-and-coming Jaxson Dart. That’s a role that should allow him to flirt with top-12 numbers for fantasy at his position, meaning that Likely is definitely a player to keep in the lineup unless you have a real top name at tight end to replace him with.
Just keep in mind that Week 2 may be tough – the Giants are away at the Los Angeles Rams, a game which brings a very difficult matchup but could provide plenty of passing volume if New York falls behind early. Afterwards, though, the team’s schedule gets much softer until Week 7, so Likely could become a reliable contributor to your team if he continues in this role.
