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Isaiah Likely

Player Preview: Isaiah Likely

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Position: TE

College: Coastal Carolina

Height: 6’ 5”

Weight: 245

Age: 22

Draft Capital: 4th rounder

By: Nate Christian (@NateNFL)

The Rundown

Isaiah Likely ($1,041,085) was the second tight end selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2022 NFL Draft with the 139th pick, after fellow 4th rounder Charlie Kolar ($1,091,221) who was taken with the 128th pick. Kolar has yet to participate in training camp as he’s been dealing with a sports hernia, and during that time Likely has made quite the name for himself. Before we get into his pre-season hype, let’s take a look at his prospect profile to set the stage.

College Production

As a sophomore, Likely caught 32 passes for 431 yards and 5 touchdowns, a solid performance for a college tight end. As a junior though, we saw him take the next step as he caught 30 passes for 601 yards and 5 more touchdowns. He saw an increase of 6.5 yards per reception and Coastal Carolina had a playmaker on their hands. Going into his senior season, Likely looked primed for a big year with Grayson McCall as his quarterback and he performed as one of the top tight ends in the country. He finished his senior year with 59 receptions for 912 yards and 12 touchdowns, including a 99-yard touchdown reception against Arkansas State. Not many players, let along tight ends, can claim a 99-yard touchdown.

Strengths

Hard to Find

Whether it’s before or after the catch, it’s somehow hard for defenders to find this 6’5” 245 lbs. tight end. In zone coverage, he does well to find open space between defenders, especially when give the opportunity to run into green grass down the seam. Once he has the ball in his hands, he offers impressive lateral ability to make some players miss and pick up extra yards. We’re currently seeing this as he is leading the 2022 draft class with 9 missed tackles through two pre-season games.

Strong Hand

Likely through a month of training camp and preseason games has been known to win catches despite traffic. Highlight play after highlight play show him catching the football over defenders or in the middle of the field between two or three linebackers. While watching his film, I liked his hands but felt that he needed to be a bit more consistent. Drops haven’t been an issue so far this pre-season, so the train continues to build steam.

Game IQ

In Lance Zierlein’s scouting report on NFL.com, he mentions that Likely is a “high achiever on and off the field” as well as “football IQ to make adjustments when play breaks down”. Likely has quickly impressed the Ravens coaching staff and part of the reason has been his ability to learn the playbook and get better quickly. Ravens backup QB Tyler Huntley ($895,000) had this to say as well, “he knows what’s going on around him. He knows the plays.”

Weaknesses

Game Speed vs Testing Speed

At Coastal Carolina’s pro day, Likely disappointed some teams with a 4.8 40 time, which caused some doubt if he was as athletic as he looked on film. But the noise out of training camp and from the coaching staff is that Likely oozes athleticism. So far so good, as he is already making plays on the NFL field, albeit against backups.

Not a Great Blocker

Calling Isaiah Likely a tight end is like calling Mike Gesicki ($10,931,000) a tight end. Both of them are truly big slot receivers. They don’t really fit as a wide receiver or as your typical in-line tight end, but they are a matchup nightmare for defenses. But what this means for Likely is he will see the field more often in obvious passing downs, limiting his overall volume of snaps until he can become a better blocker. Especially since he is on a team that values run blocking as much as the Ravens.

NFL Projection

In Dynasty Owner, tight ends are often an afterthought. There is no premium to their stats, and you only need to start one in your main lineup (plus a Bench TE). But there is value to having good tight ends, even if it is only to flip them later for a 2nd round rookie draft pick, Likely may be worth holding onto though.

While he is certainly behind All-Pro Mark Andrews ($14,000,000) he may not be too far behind in the pecking order overall. After Andrews is the sophomore wideout Rashod Bateman ($3,149,853) who looks primed for a breakout. After those two, the targets seem wide open. There’s a good chance that Likely plays a role as a slot receiver for the team this year and I could see him being the third target for this offense, since nobody else has stepped up to grab hold of that role. If Likely is the third (or even the fourth) option for this team, that could be equivalent to 50 or so targets surely boosting Likely’s stock to a player who could help win you a week or two this year, and offer continued upside in the future.

At the end of the day, don’t sleep on this tight end who is making noise on a tight end-centric offense. John Harbaugh and the Ravens know what they want, and Likely seems to be giving them just that.

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