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Will Isaiah Likely play in Week 1? Will Isaiah Likely play for the Ravens in 2025? Dan breaks down the latest Isaiah Likely injury fantasy football outlook and injury update.
Injuries are an inevitability when it comes to football. Often, success in fantasy football is about avoiding injuries that limit your lineup’s ability to reach its maximum potential.
That leads to different strategies when it comes to drafting. Some fantasy managers fade any injured player in drafts regardless of the situation, expecting a situation that can linger. Others take advantage of players who fall in drafts due to injuries to get value.
One player who suffered a preseason injury is Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely. What was his injury? Will he be available to play Week 1? Find out below.
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Isaiah Likely Injury Update
There was hope that Likely would continue to progress and become a more prominent part of Baltimore’s passing offense in 2025. Unfortunately, the tight end suffered a foot injury during training camp at the end of July that knocked him out for the majority of Baltimore’s preseason.
The injury ultimately required surgery that, at the time, was expected to keep the veteran tight end off the field for six weeks. August 30th will be the four-week mark, which makes it unlikely (no pun intended) that the tight end will be ready for the team’s Week 1 game against the Buffalo Bills.
At this point, the most concrete update we have received is that he is likely continuing to heal and progress from the surgery, and that he should be ready to play early in the season. Unfortunately, that isn’t a definitive timeline and may not account for the time needed for him to ramp up after being off the practice field since late July.
Foot injuries are notoriously fickle and can be aggravated easily. Still, the fact that Likely got surgery should mean that once he is healed, he won’t have further limitations throughout the year.
Isaiah Likely Fantasy Outlook
It looked like Likely was going to take a significant step in 2024 after his first game. In that game, Likely logged a 66.3% snap share while catching nine of 12 targets for 111 yards and a touchdown, narrowly missing a second touchdown when he stepped out of bounds on a reception in the back of the end zone. He still finished as the TE1 overall that week (26.1 points).
Week 1, Chiefs 27-20 Ravens
Isaiah Likely nearly scored a TD as regulation expired that would've given Baltimore a chance to tie or win, but he was just barely out of bounds on the catch
🧵2/9
🎥: @AdamSchefter— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) November 11, 2024
Unfortunately, that week would wind up being the highlight of Likely’s season. The veteran tight end took a backseat to Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers, and Rashod Bateman, inconsistently earning targets with a fluctuating snap share. Likely did produce four other top 10 scoring weeks at tight end, but they were unpredictable.
There was a belief that the Ravens could trade Andrews this offseason, freeing up more work in the passing attack for the young tight end. That didn’t happen. Once again, Likely is looking like the fourth option in an offense that, while more pass-heavy, still wants to run through Derrick Henry in the backfield.
Likely’s best season as a professional from a production standpoint was 2024 (58 targets, 42 receptions, 477 receiving yards, and six touchdowns). Still, it didn’t really matter much in fantasy football (7.7 PPR points per game, TE19). He will likely struggle to hit those exact numbers as a fringe player coming off a foot injury.
For Likely to be fantasy relevant, he would need Andrews to go down with an injury in 2025. That is entirely possible (especially with Andrews turning 30 this season), but far from an assured outcome. Likely is a fade in fantasy drafts, given his injury and his limited role in Baltimore’s passing attack, with the team fully healthy.
He could quickly become a priority waiver add if injuries strike Baltimore’s pass catchers next season.
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