Isaiah Likely is heading to New York after five seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. The fantasy community has grown noticeably more interested in him since the move. There is quite a bit to unpack with the veteran tight end. Should fantasy managers be drafting Likely in 2026?
Should I Draft Isaiah Likely in Fantasy Football?
I have given Likely a lot of thought this offseason, largely because the enthusiasm around him has been impossible to ignore.
The case people are making goes something like this. Likely moves to the Giants, reunites with John Harbaugh, and steps into an offense with no clear second option in the passing game behind Malik Nabers. Opportunity plus familiarity equals breakout.
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Before accepting any of that, it is worth remembering what actually happened over the past five years.
Likely flashed upside at times in Baltimore, and those flashes are the reason his name still carries weight. He was the No. 1 waiver wire pickup after a 9-111-1 line in Week 1 of the 2024 season. Managers everywhere spent their entire budget chasing what looked like a breakout.
Then he hit double digits just three times across the rest of that season. That is the Likely experience in a nutshell. One tantalizing afternoon that convinces everyone the light has finally come on, followed by months of the same player he has always been. The Week 1 game is why people are excited now, and it is also the exact thing that should make them cautious.
Last season was especially egregious. Likely averaged 4.4 fantasy points per game and belonged nowhere near fantasy rosters.
What makes that damning is the context around it. He shared a tight end room with a completely cooked Mark Andrews; a player so diminished he could only earn 70 targets across 17 games. The door was wide open. Likely was somehow worse.
The volume tells the rest. He saw 37 total targets on the season, which is fewer targets than he had receptions the year prior. He commanded an 11.2% target share and earned a target on just 16.9% of his routes run, a rate that ranked 39th in the league. His 1.4 yards per route run ranked 26th. There is not a single metric in that profile suggesting a talented player being held back by circumstance.
This brings me back to the bull case, and why I cannot get there.
The entire argument rests on Likely finally landing in a favorable situation. He was already in one. Baltimore had no clear second option in the passing game behind Zay Flowers, which is the identical setup people are now excited about in New York. Likely had every opportunity to claim that role and never came close.
So, the pitch is that he gets unleashed by the same head coach who had five years to do exactly that and never once seemed to consider it? Color me skeptical. Harbaugh’s usage of Likely has been remarkably consistent in its message.
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Likely is my TE14 against a TE12 ADP, and the gap would be wider if there were much separating the players in this range. Tight end is deep enough this season that nobody needs to chase a profile like this one.
I want no part of Likely in 2026.
Katz’s TE Fantasy Rankings 2026
- Trey McBride | ARI
- Brock Bowers | LV
- Colston Loveland | CHI
- Tyler Warren | IND
- Tucker Kraft | GB
- Sam LaPorta | DET
- George Kittle | SF
- Harold Fannin Jr. | CLE
- Kyle Pitts Sr. | ATL
- Isaiah Likely | NYG
- Dallas Goedert | PHI
- Travis Kelce | KC
- Jake Ferguson | DAL
- Mark Andrews | BAL
- Dalton Kincaid | BUF
- Juwan Johnson | NO
- Brenton Strange | JAX
- Chig Okonkwo | WAS
- Hunter Henry | NE
- Kenyon Sadiq | NYJ
- Dalton Schultz | HOU
- Greg Dulcich | MIA
- AJ Barner | SEA
- Oronde Gadsden II | LAC
- T.J. Hockenson | MIN
- Terrance Ferguson | LAR
- Gunnar Helm | TEN
- Evan Engram | DEN
- Cade Otton | TB
- Colby Parkinson | LAR
