When the New York Giants signed former Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely in free agency in March to a three-year, $40 million deal, many fans scratched their heads.
The Giants needed a wide receiver, not a tight end. Likely is a 6-foot-4, 240-pound tweener who was a No. 2 for the Ravens behind Pro Bowler Mark Andrews. New York already had a fine receiver at the position in Theo Johnson and a top blocker in Chris Manhertz, so why the need for Likely?
Likely was brought in along with another former Raven, fullback Patrick Ricard, to add a physical dimension to the Giants’ offense under new Giants head coach John Harbaugh, their former coach in Baltimore.
Like Ricard, the All-Pro they call “Pancake Pat,” Likely understands how to play the Harbaugh way. That’s why he’s here.
“Up front you’re going to be physical, you’re going to be violent, you’re going to play the whole sixty minutes like you’re winning the whole game, and you’re going to fight until you get the W,” Likely said back in March.
“I mean, from the first snap to the last snap, that’s the thing that Coach Harbs preaches every day, every practice, every meeting, every team meeting, you’re going to understand that what you’re getting out of Coach Harbs is what you’re going to get from the first day that you have him until the last day that you have him.”
On Monday night at the Giants’ annual Town Hall at the Beacon Theater in New York City, Harbaugh told the crowd how he feels about his tight end room heading into the team’s OTAs this week.
“There’s not a better tight end group, I don’t think, in the league, potentially,” Harbaugh said, via the New York Post. “Jaxson has a bunch of guys to go to.”
Jaxson, of course, is second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart. He and Likely have already hit it off at the team’s offseason program. A new top pitch-and-catch combo could be brewing.
Jaxson Dart to Isaiah Likely đpic.twitter.com/nnD49QpDO7
â Big Blue Data Room (@bigblue_data) April 23, 2026
Likely knows how Dart loves his tight ends, and that was another reason why he chose to come to New York.
“Man, Jaxson, you know, a great quarterback, a great young quarterback,” Likely said. “Obviously shows a lot of charisma when he’s out there. Excited to get out there and play with him. When you watch him, you see the type of drive he has to win any game by any means necessary. You love that when you have a quarterback like that that’s ready to do whatever it takes to win the game.”
Harbaugh has been excited about what Likely brings to the Giants’ tight end mix from the very beginning.
“He’s a playmaking football player,” Harbaugh said of Likely last month. “I have seen him in every kind of circumstance… He’s got a big catch radius. He can make plays after he makes a catch. He can get upfield. He can make people miss. He can run people over. He’s a very good perimeter blocker. You’ll see that. That will be good for our run game.”
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: John Harbaugh raves about New York Giants’ tight end room