OTL: Will Likely Haunt Ravens If He Doesn’t Re-Sign?

Time is ticking for Baltimore to retain their unrestricted free agents, and as every second passes it seems the chance gets smaller and smaller that guys like Tyler Linderbaum and Isaiah Likely re-sign.

It felt like the writing was on the wall for Likely when Mark Andrews signed his three-year extension back in December. It would have been a relative surprise to see both of the two pending free agents return, but many felt that the wrong tight end got an extension. Andrews, who will turn 31 in September, has just 1,639 receiving yards over the last three seasons. The age seems like it might be starting to show. His yards per catch this past season was just 8.8. His next lowest season was 11.6 back in 2022, and every other year Andrews had finished with over 12.0 YPC.

On the flip side you have a young, flashy tight end who has had his fair share of gaffes, but has also made some spectacular plays in huge moments. Likely has caught two touchdowns in five playoff games while Andrews has caught none over eight.

The biggest issue with Likely is that the statistical full-season production hasn’t really been there. He failed to reach 500 receiving yards in any of his first three seasons and there are likely (no pun intended this time) some questions as to whether he can be the headliner of a tight end room. With that being said, outside of this past season where Zay Flowers had the lion’s share of yards and receptions, the passing attack has been fairly balanced between players over the last four years, and he was never in a true position to break out.

Considering both future outlook and price point, I’m surprised the Ravens didn’t first target Likely, who has a Spotrac average annual value projection of about $8.8 million.

Don’t forget about Charlie Kolar either. He’s been an instrumental piece in the Ravens’ smash-mouth run game over the past few years and is also a pending free agent. If Andrews ends up being the only returning TE, it will be interesting to see how the Ravens go about addressing a position group that has been so important during Lamar Jackson’s career. New offensive coordinator Declan Doyle also comes from an offensive system that used a ton of heavier personnel groupings, and much of  Chicago’s success came in part due to the strong duo of Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet.

I can already picture Travis Kelce riding off into the sunset, and Likely signing with Kansas City as Patrick Mahomes gets a shiny new toy for the next three or four years. That would be rough, wouldn’t it?

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