This was supposed to be the season Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely finally cashed in.
This was supposed to be the season the 6-foot-4, 245-pound star not only tapped into his seemingly unlimited potential but also struck it rich. It was supposed to be the year the Ravens finally realized it was time to move on from veteran tight end Mark Andrews and make Likely the main focus at the position.
One broken foot and one miserable, mistake-filled season for Likely and the Ravens later, it’s safe to say things have changed.
Andrews, somehow, played his way into a 3-year, $39.2 million contract extension he signed on December 3. Add in the fact the Ravens are about to hire a new head coach and the writing is on the wall for Likely, who just played out the final season of his 4-year, $4.16 million rookie contract.
While getting a new contract shouldn’t be difficult, the details of that new deal could end up being a massive wake-up call for Likely, who thought he was on track to become one of the NFL’s highest paid tight ends at one point.
NFL Insider Warns ‘Buyer Beware’ on Likely
Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay put Likely at the top of his list of “Buyer Beware” NFL free agents in 2026 thanks to how he played after he returned from a fractured foot suffered just a few days into training camp on July 29 which cost him the first 3 games of the regular season.
“Isaiah Likely has been a popular breakout candidate for several years, but the Baltimore Ravens tight end has mostly spent his NFL career working behind Mark Andrews in the team’s pecking order,” Kay wrote on January 14. “Likely will finally get a chance to emerge from the three-time Pro Bowler’s shadow in 2026. While he’s a good bet to catch on as a primary pass-catching option for one of the many teams lacking a playmaker at the position, expectations should be tempered after he failed to realize the sky-high potential he displayed earlier in his career.”
Those failures were underlined with a pair of massive mistakes in critical moments — both of which could be attributed to a lack of concentration on Likely’s part.
In a Week 13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Likely fumbled the ball out of the back end zone as he was tackled running in for a touchdown.
The next week, in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Likely had the ball poked away on what appeared to be a touchdown catch — a play on which instead of bringing the ball close to his body and tucking it away like he should have, Likely held the ball out front of him in a bizarre kind of showboating.
Likely Could Still Land Franchise Tag
Likely, 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds, could still cash in this season if the Ravens decide to franchise tag him at a clip of approximately $16 million for one season. Which would probably be a really smart move on their part.
If they don’t, the free agent market isn’t as robust as it once probably was for Likely — Spotrac predicts his market value will be in the realm of a 4-year, $36.365 million contract which would pay him roughly $9.1 million per year.
NFL Teams Urged to Stay Away From Projected $36 Million Ravens Star in Free Agency