Isaiah
Likely.
Isaiah
Likely.
Coastal Carolina· 6'5"· 245 lb
"The most productive receiving tight end in the Sun Belt, a detached mismatch piece with 27 college touchdowns, whose only real question was whether the position would hold up once he had to block NFL defensive ends."Pre-draft read
Likely is a move tight end used as a mismatch piece rather than an in-line blocker. Coastal Carolina detached him, put him in the slot and out wide, and let him attack the seam against safeties who could not run with him and nickels who could not match his 6-4, 240 frame.
The separator is what happens after the catch. He catches with his hands away from his frame, turns upfield in one motion and breaks arm tackles, which is how a Sun Belt offense turned him into a 20-yards-per-catch target in 2020. He is a natural adjuster on back-shoulder and fade throws and plays with real body control near the sideline. In-line blocking was the unfinished part: willing, but light in the hips against a defensive end who strikes first.
A two-tight-end offense that uses 12 personnel as a passing formation, detaching him into the slot and up the seam while a true Y handles the in-line blocking.
Year 1: a 35-catch mismatch tight end in sub packages and the red zone. Ceiling: a 60-catch TE1 who moves all over the formation and finishes drives.
A run-first offense that lines its tight ends up next to the tackle on early downs and expects them to drive down-blocks against 280-pound ends, where his inexperience attached would show immediately.
His value is highest where the offense already has a blocking tight end and can treat him purely as a receiver.
Isaiah Likely | Coastal Carolina Tight End | 2021 Highlights
Senior-season reel: seam work, contested catches and the run after the catch.
Matchup Nightmare | Coastal Carolina TE Isaiah Likely Highlights
Full college cutup showing how Coastal Carolina detached him to create mismatches.
Isaiah Likely Scouting Report, Baltimore Ravens | 2022 NFL Draft
Pre-draft breakdown of his alignment usage, ball skills and blocking limitations.
Likely came out of Cambridge, Massachusetts and grew inside Jamey Chadwell's offense into one of the most productive tight ends in college football. He caught 12 passes for 106 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman, 32 for 431 as a sophomore, then broke out with 30 catches for 601 yards at 20.0 per reception in 2020 before a senior season of 59 catches for 912 yards and 12 touchdowns, among the best tight end lines in the country.
What made him interesting was how he was used. Coastal Carolina treated him as a receiver who happened to be listed at tight end, flexing him wide and asking him to win one-on-one on the perimeter, up the seam and on scramble drills.
The questions were level of competition and role. Sun Belt safeties are not NFL safeties, and he had almost no in-line body of work, which left teams projecting whether he was a true tight end or a big slot without a position. Boards had him in the third-round range with a wide band. Baltimore, which had taken Charlie Kolar eleven picks earlier and already had Mark Andrews, still spent 139 on him because the offense wanted two tight ends who could threaten the middle of the field.
- 01
Yards after catch
catches away from his frame and turns upfield in one motion, breaking arm tackles in space and averaging 20.0 yards per reception in 2020.
- 02
Seam speed
genuinely faster than the safeties he faced, which let Coastal Carolina attack the middle of the field vertically with him from a detached alignment.
- 03
Red zone production
27 career touchdowns, including 12 as a senior, built on contested throws, back-shoulder wins and simple size mismatches near the goal line.
- 04
Ball skills
tracks and adjusts to the throw over either shoulder, with real body control along the sideline and the hands to finish through contact.
- 05
Alignment flexibility
proven in-line, in the slot and split wide, which gives a coordinator personnel-group deception without changing the play call.
- 01
In-line blocking
willing but light in the hips, and an NFL defensive end who gets into his chest first can stall the run concept on his side.
- 02
Level of competition
his production came against Sun Belt safeties and nickels who could not match his size or speed, which inflated the separation on tape.
- 03
Route detail
the college route tree was narrow, leaning on seams, fades and crossers rather than the full-field breaks the position requires in the NFL.
- 04
Release against physical coverage
can be slowed by a defender who jams him at the line, which matters more when he is asked to align tight rather than in space.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- —s
- Vertical
- 36inp50
- Broad jump
- —in
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- 4.57sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Coastal Carolina | 12 | 12 | 106 | 5 |
| 2019 | Coastal Carolina | 12 | 32 | 431 | 5 |
| 2020 | Coastal Carolina | 11 | 30 | 601 | 5 |
| 2021 | Coastal Carolina | 13 | 59 | 912 | 12 |
| Career | — | 48 | 133 | 2050 | 27 |
The 2020 and 2021 lines are verified directly against cfbstats (Coastal Carolina team 149, player 1094437): 11 games with 30 catches for 601 yards and five touchdowns, then 13 games with 59 catches for 912 yards and 12 touchdowns. cfbstats does not publish player pages for him in 2018 or 2019, so those two seasons come from Sports-Reference. The four seasons sum exactly to the career totals of 48 games, 133 catches, 2,050 yards and 27 touchdowns. Rushing is omitted rather than zero-filled because the sources do not agree on his handful of carries.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A big-slot type who produces touchdowns at a high rate in a defined role within a strong passing offense.
The ceiling: an undersized receiving tight end who becomes a matchup problem no defense has an answer for, if the body holds up.
The downside: a college receiving producer whose blocking limits keep him off the field on early downs and cap his snap count.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
He was productive from the first day. He caught 36 passes for 373 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie behind Mark Andrews, then 30 for 411 and five scores in 2023 as his role expanded after Andrews' injury; he and Andrews were the NFL's only single-team pair of tight ends with at least five touchdown grabs. In 2024 he posted career highs of 42 catches, 477 yards and six touchdowns, including a nine-catch, 111-yard game at Kansas City with a 49-yard fourth-quarter score, and he became the second-fastest Ravens tight end to reach double-digit career receiving touchdowns. He broke his foot early in 2025 training camp while in extension talks and never regained rhythm, finishing with 27 catches for 307 yards and one touchdown.
Baltimore let him reach free agency, and he signed with the Giants for 2026, where his first game produced eight catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Four years in Baltimore gave him 64 games, 143 catches, 1,646 yards and 17 touchdowns while playing behind one of the best tight ends of his era. That is a clear win at 139, and the only thing that kept him from a bigger number was target share, not ability.