Isaiah Likely gives Jaxson Dart the versatile weapon the Giants lacked

The Giants signed Isaiah Likely to a three-year, $40 million deal that can reach $47.5 million with incentives, reuniting him with John Harbaugh, who coached him in Baltimore from 2022 through 2025. For some, the price tag raised eyebrows for a player coming off a quiet year. But his fit with this offense and potential to be so much more than he was in Baltimore explains the contract.

Likely is the flexible, move-around tight end Jaxson Dart has never had, and a Matt Nagy offense built on misdirection is exactly the system that turns that skill set into production. The Giants didn’t pay for last year’s box score. They paid for what Likely can do inside this scheme.

The stat line needs context

Likely caught just 27 passes for 307 yards and one touchdown in 14 games last season, with his target share squeezed to roughly 11 percent behind Mark Andrews in Baltimore’s run-leaning attack. Ranked 42nd among tight ends in receptions, he looked like a complementary piece rather than a featured one.

In 2024, Likely went for 42 catches, 477 yards, and six touchdowns as the clear second option, and across four Baltimore seasons, he piled up 135 receptions, 1,568 yards, and 15 touchdowns in 63 games while playing behind one of the best tight ends of his era. That ceiling, not last year’s box score, is what the Giants paid for. Free of Andrews, he is no longer a complementary piece.

The fit is worth more than the price tag

Nagy’s offense leans on motion, run-pass options, and tight ends who can detach from the formation and win from the slot. Likely is a move tight end, not an in-line blocker masquerading as a receiver, and that versatility lets a coordinator create the easy throws a second-year quarterback needs. A flex tight end who forces a defense to declare man or zone before the snap is a cheat code for a developing passer.

Likely already knows the staff’s standards and vocabulary from their Baltimore years together, which shortens the ramp in a year when the Giants are installing a new offense around Dart. He produced highlight grabs throughout the spring, including one-handed catches that flashed the catch radius that made him a matchup problem with the Ravens.

Forty million dollars for a tight end with one 477-yard season is a bet on projection, not résumé, and if Likely’s role gets crowded by a deep receiver room, the deal looks rich. The counter is that the Giants weren’t paying for volume. They were buying a specific weapon their quarterback has lacked.

What it unlocks for Dart

Dart spent his rookie year without a reliable middle-of-the-field option, forcing too many throws to the boundary under pressure. Likely changes the geometry. He gives Dart a target who can sit in the soft spots of a zone, win a seam against a linebacker, and turn a checkdown into a chunk play.

The Giants stacked the receiver room this offseason, but the tight end was the missing position. Likely is the player who lets Nagy run the offense he actually wants to run. If the money looks heavy now, the way Dart uses him in 2026 is what will settle the argument.

By Anthony Rivardo

Anthony Rivardo is the COO of Empire Sports Media and the host of Fireside Giants, a New York Giants ... More about Anthony Rivardo