When New York Giants veterans report to The Greenbrier on July 28, no addition will carry more weight than Isaiah Likely. The tight end’s three-year, $40 million contract — worth up to $47.5 million — was the richest deal of John Harbaugh’s first offseason in New York, signed on day one of free agency and making him the fourth-highest-paid player at his position. Joe Schoen paid for projection, not production, and camp is where that ledger starts getting settled.
The production side of the ledger is thin. In four Baltimore seasons behind Mark Andrews, Likely never topped 500 receiving yards or six touchdowns in a year. His 2025 season, cut up by injuries and the Ravens’ depth at the position, produced 307 yards and one touchdown — numbers that this week cost him his spot on ESPN’s top-10 tight end rankings, where he had come in at No. 8 a summer ago.
The believers see a player who was never given a full runway. “I feel like New York was just the best place for me to pick to be able to blossom, show my talents, and show that I’m a top tight end caliber player in this league now,” Likely said, in comments relayed by Big Blue View’s training camp preview. The Athletic’s Dan Duggan named Likely his breakout pick for the Giants in 2026, writing that nobody questioned the price because the receiving talent is evident — but that “the team needs his production to match his compensation.”
The opportunity argument is real. For the first time in his career, Likely enters a season as his team’s unquestioned No. 1 tight end, in an offense Harbaugh is building around Jaxson Dart with heavy play-action and run-pass options — a scheme that feeds tight ends over the middle. Harbaugh has praised Likely’s catch radius and perimeter blocking, and with Malik Nabers still working back from his ACL tear, the target opportunity in September could be larger than anything he saw in Baltimore.
For fantasy purposes, Likely is one of the cleaner late-round tight end bets on the board: a No. 1 role, a play-action scheme, and a possible early-season target vacuum if Nabers opens slowly. If camp reports show him operating as Dart’s security blanket, his path to a top-12 finish at the position is real — and the dynasty buy window closes the moment it happens.
— Rosie Meadow
