The Baltimore Ravens held out hope tight end Isaiah Likely might be ready for Week 1 against the Buffalo Bills, but they’re apparently taking the cautious route with the 25-year-old.
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported on Sept. 3 that Likely was not expected to play in the season opener vs. the Bills. Likely has been sidelined for all of training camp and the preseason after undergoing surgery to repair a fracture in his foot in early August.
Isaiah Likely Working Back From Foot Injury
It’s not a huge surprise, of course, given the original timeline for his recovery. Additionally, Likely wasn’t a participant in practice to start the week, which pointed toward him not being in the mix for Buffalo.
The Ravens are also waiting to see if new cornerback Jaire Alexander (knee) can give it a go in Week 1, but in answering a question about the former Pro Bowler, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh indirectly shed light on how they’ll likely approach the Likely injury situation, too.
“In terms of just injury updates, (you are) probably not going to get much out of me at this point, unless it’s an obvious one (or) unless we know if a guy’s going to play or if he’s not going to play,” Harbaugh told reporters to start the week. “So, you might get a little more on Friday, just because you’ll know who hasn’t practiced. If they haven’t practiced, they’re unlikely to play, unless they’ve been playing all the way up to that point, then maybe they’ll play.”
Isaiah Likely Key to Ravens’ Future Offensive Success
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Likely is the successor to Mark Andrews as Baltimore’s go-to tight end, and he might already be on his way to supplanting the veteran as Lamar Jackson’s security blanket. The Coastal Carolina product had the best season of his career in 2024, caching 42 of the 58 targets he received, setting career-highs in both receiving yards (477) and touchdowns (six).
Likely was an even bigger factor in two Ravens playoff games, catching seven of nine targets for 126 yards and a touchdown, a performance that loomed even larger compared to Andrews’ ill-timed drop in the divisional-round loss at Buffalo.
As ESPN.com noted, Likely is just one of 17 tight ends with 30-plus catches in each of the past three seasons, which is even more impressive given the target share with Andrews. In fact, a different ESPN.com story — a ranking of the NFL’s tight ends based on surveying people inside the game — had Likely as the league’s eighth-best tight end.
He’s a matchup guy, very loose, can separate, big catch radius, pretty diverse route tree,” an NFL coach told ESPN.com.
Likely could be on the verge of taking that next step as soon as this season, but even if he takes a backseat to Andrews, it might not be for long. Andrews is entering the final season of his contract, and he could even be contemplating retirement. Either way, the door is about to be opened for Likely, who could quickly ascend to the top of the NFL’s tight end heap (no Ravens pun intended).
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