
Draft Note by John Paulsen
Likely spent last year as the clear second tight end in Baltimore behind Mark Andrews, and his 34 targets in 13 games reflects his role, not his ability. His ESPN OPEN score (68th percentile) and contested catch rate (79th percentile) both point to a functional receiver, and in 2024, when he had more opportunity in Baltimore, he finished TE16 overall at 6.5 points per game. Now he heads to New York to reunite with John Harbaugh as the projected TE1 in a Giants offense built around Jaxson Dart. Malik Nabers will command the lion's share of the attention, but the TE role in Dart's operation should generate consistent underneath looks. The competition with Theo Johnson is worth monitoring; Johnson finished TE15 overall in 2025 and is an athletic player in his own right, though his route grade (57th percentile) and YPRR (44th percentile) suggest he's not a polished route runner yet. Likely's PFF route grade (17th percentile) isn't reassuring either, so this is a volume-over-efficiency play at a position where the volume is genuine, assuming he wins the job. One encouraging note: In the 19 career games where he’s played at least 40 snaps, he has averaged 3.5-42-0.53, or 9.1 fantasy points per game, which are low-end TE1 numbers. He's going around TE15, which is a fair-to-aggressive price for a player moving into his first true TE1 role with an ascending quarterback. The Giants will throw to the tight end—the question is whether it's mostly Likely or split more evenly than the market expects.
Isaiah Likely
- TE
- , New York Giants
- 26
- 247 lbs
- 6' 4"
- Coastal Carolina
- 123
- 1
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Ian Rapoport
·Dec 12, 2025 · 4:14 PM EST
2026 Draft note
Likely spent last year as the clear second tight end in Baltimore behind Mark Andrews, and his 34 targets in 13 games reflects his role, not his ability. His ESPN OPEN score (68th percentile) and contested catch rate (79th percentile) both point to a functional receiver, and in 2024, when he had more opportunity in Baltimore, he finished TE16 overall at 6.5 points per game. Now he heads to New York to reunite with John Harbaugh as the projected TE1 in a Giants offense built around Jaxson Dart. Malik Nabers will command the lion's share of the attention, but the TE role in Dart's operation should generate consistent underneath looks. The competition with Theo Johnson is worth monitoring; Johnson finished TE15 overall in 2025 and is an athletic player in his own right, though his route grade (57th percentile) and YPRR (44th percentile) suggest he's not a polished route runner yet. Likely's PFF route grade (17th percentile) isn't reassuring either, so this is a volume-over-efficiency play at a position where the volume is genuine, assuming he wins the job. One encouraging note: In the 19 career games where he’s played at least 40 snaps, he has averaged 3.5-42-0.53, or 9.1 fantasy points per game, which are low-end TE1 numbers. He's going around TE15, which is a fair-to-aggressive price for a player moving into his first true TE1 role with an ascending quarterback. The Giants will throw to the tight end—the question is whether it's mostly Likely or split more evenly than the market expects.
2026 Strength of Schedule - NYG
| W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 | W7 | W8 | W9 | W10 | W11 | W12 | W13 | W14 | W15 | W16 | W17 | W18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 DAL | 12 @LAR | 20 TEN | 23 ARI | 32 @WAS | 17 NO | 15 @HOU | BYE | 3 @PHI | 32 WAS | 28 JAX | 21 @IND | 26 SF | 11 @SEA | 7 CLE | 18 @DET | 9 @DAL | 3 PHI |
Schedule difficulty based on schedule-adjusted, positional defensive ranking. Top DEF = 1, bottom DEF = 32.
Game Stats
| Week | Opp | Rec | RecYds | RecTD | Tgts | YPR | RuAtt | RuYds | RuTD | Fum | YPC | STD | 0.5 PPR | PPR | Snaps | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
O
Injury Details (w1)
Status: Out Injury: Foot | @BUF | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
O
Injury Details (w2)
Status: Out Injury: Foot | CLE | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
O
Injury Details (w3)
Status: Out Injury: Foot | DET | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 4 | @KC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | - | 0.0 | 25/54 | 46.3% |
| 5 | HOU | 1 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 12.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.2 | 1.70 | 2.2 | 23/43 | 53.5% |
| 6 | LAR | 2 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 3.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.6 | 1.60 | 2.6 | 63/78 | 80.8% |
| 7 | BYE | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 8 | CHI | 2 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 4.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.8 | 1.80 | 2.8 | 36/62 | 58.1% |
| 9 | @MIA | 3 | 60 | 0 | 4 | 20.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 6.0 | 7.50 | 9.0 | 33/56 | 58.9% |
| 10 | @MIN | 2 | 17 | 0 | 4 | 8.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.7 | 2.70 | 3.7 | 39/70 | 55.7% |
| 11 | @CLE | 2 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 7.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.5 | 2.50 | 3.5 | 32/61 | 52.5% |
| 12 | NYJ | 1 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 10.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.0 | 1.50 | 2.0 | 36/63 | 57.1% |
| 13 | CIN | 5 | 95 | 0 | 6 | 19.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 7.5 | 10.00 | 12.5 | 31/60 | 51.7% |
| 14 | PIT | 4 | 25 | 1 | 6 | 6.25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 8.5 | 10.50 | 12.5 | 48/80 | 60.0% |
| 15 | @CIN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | - | 0.0 | 21/41 | 51.2% |
| 16 | NE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | - | 0.0 | 22/55 | 40.0% |
| 17 | @GB | 3 | 27 | 0 | 3 | 9.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2.7 | 4.20 | 5.7 | 53/76 | 69.7% |
| 18 | @PIT | 2 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 16.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3.2 | 4.20 | 5.2 | 25/51 | 49.0% |
| Per game | 1.93 | 21.93 | 0.07 | 2.57 | 11.37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.07 | 0.00 | 2.48 | 3.44 | 4.41 | 34.79/60.71 | 56.04% | |
| Totals | 27 | 307 | 1 | 36 | 11.37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 34.7 | 48.2 | 61.7 | 487/850 | 56.04% | |






