Isaiah Likely has made some great plays in his career so far. However, there could be a new team on the radar, the AFC Champions New England Patriots. Adding Likely could help take the Patriots and Quarterback Drake Maye to another tier of talent in the NFL.
What Are the Chances That Isaiah Likely Goes to New England?
The first piece of the puzzle for Likely going to the Patriots is the financial side. New England “would be interested in Likely at the right price,” Chad Graff of The Athletic said.
Luckily for New England, they have plenty of cap space. They have $ 40.4 million in available funds, which is the fourth-highest in the NFL.
The second is whether Likely would want to go to New England. However, the Patriots have many attributes that make it a great landing spot for the former Raven. Not only do they have a great QB in Maye, but they also have a great play caller in Josh McDaniels, who is coming off winning Assistant Coach of the Year and led the Patriots’ offense to a third-ranked 379.4 yards per game.
So, Likely would have a lot of assets to help him have a great season in New England.
The third and final piece is the tight end market this offseason. While Kyle Pitts is “off the free-agent market after being franchise-tagged,” as Graff said, there are other names available, such as Pro Bowler David Njoku, Super Bowl Champion Dallas Goedert, and young talent Cade Otton.
So, if a team needs tight ends, there are a lot of good ones available. This paves a path for New England to have a better chance of landing Likely.
How Likely Could Help New England
The Patriots currently have tight end Hunter Henry, who had a solid season last year and earned a B- on PFSN’s Tight End Impact Score. Henry had some good moments, such as catching a touchdown against his former team, the Los Angeles Chargers, in the playoffs.
However, the 31-year-old is not as explosive, and bringing in Likely would be a different change of pace. Likely plays with speed and acceleration that can cause defenders to miss. He is overall pretty fast for a tight end, which could pair well with Maye’s rocket arm.
Not only is Likely fast, but he also has pretty good hands. During his Raven tenure, Likely had a catch percentage of 69.6%. To put that in reference, legendary Kansas City Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce has a career catch percentage of 71.6%.
During his four years of playing behind Mark Andrews in Baltimore, Likely has 1,568 yards and 15 career touchdowns. Going to New England could allow him to put up 1,000 yards yearly.
Likely also did a pretty good job creating when Ravens QB Lamar Jackson was on the run. So, he could do some great stuff on scramble drills with Maye. A lot of Maye’s best plays came off script last year, so Likely could help that.
Likely would be a great get for New England, as he would help spruce up the offense and try to help them get back to the Super Bowl. Additionally, it could be his chance to be the number one tight end.
