August 2, 2025

Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely (foot) is one of the more frustrating players in fantasy football. He is a matchup nightmare for safeties and linebackers, has elite ball skills, and a knack for the endzone, but the problem is that Mark Andrews is not going anywhere as the team's star tight end. Likely's snaps and targets will always limit his ceiling as long as Andrews is healthy. However, Andrews will be 30 years old and is no stranger to missed time, and Likely is an elite option and an immediate plug-and-play TE1 when Andrews is out. Over the last five weeks of the 2023 regular season without Andrews, Likely scored five touchdowns and was the overall TE3 in that span. Despite that, Andrews played the full season last year, Likely still finished as a top-12 tight end in target depth (6th), red zone targets (12th), touchdowns (8th), target separation (5th), and fantasy points per target (8th). His talent on the field has not gone unnoticed as he only played 35 fewer snaps than Andrews last year, but if they are both on the field, the volume is simply not there for him to be a reliable season-long tight end for your fantasy teams. Likely is a very cheap lottery ticket with an ADP of TE17, and there are not many players that late in the draft with his level of upside, so managers who miss out on an elite tight end option early could strike gold should they decide to take a swing on the best right end handcuff, maybe ever. Update 8/2/2025: Likely will need surgery to address a broken bone in his foot sustained during practice, and is out six weeks. He will miss all of training camp and the offseason but has a chance to return in Week 1. --Frank Dyevoich, Esq.