Isaiah Likely
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Isaiah Likely must beat a Baltimore Ravens All-Pro in one key area to enjoy a breakout 2025 season.
He’s widely expected to be a breakout start for the Baltimore Ravens in 2025, but Isaiah Likely first needs to beat an All-Pro in one key area.
Specifically, the roving playmaker is challenged to surpass fellow tight end Mark Andrews in routes run from a particular personnel grouping. As Jonathon Macri of Pro Football Focus explained, there’s a clear difference between who is on the field when the Ravens use “11 personnel,” one tight end and one running back.
The advantage firmly belongs to Andrews based on numbers from 2024. Macri believes “if Likely can then cut more into Andrews’ 11-personnel routes where Andrews held a 51% to 39% edge over him, that subtle shift toward Likely as the top receiving tight end would be a lot more noticeable for fantasy in 2025.”
There’s a reason convincing coaches to use him in 11 personnel more often is key for Likely enjoying a banner campaign. It’s because he’s already the go-to target in a formation the Ravens used like a “superpower” last season.
Isaiah Likely Already Unseating Ravens’ Linchpin
Andrews can’t compete with Likely for a comparable target share whenever the Ravens put two tight ends onto the field. Something they did to top “the NFL in 22-personnel percentage (14.7%) and ranking top five in 12-personnel (32.3%), which is unlikely to change in 2025,” per Macri.
This personnel set proved to be Likely’s path to a bigger role, as the 25-year-old “ran 94% of the team’s routes in those situations, while Andrews ran 85% of routes with two tight ends on the field.”
Broader context provided more good news for Likely, since snaps in 22 personnel were “accounting for nearly half (44%) of the team’s passing down snaps” last season.
The numbers are trending Likely’s way, which is why a teammate as illustrious as five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is talking up the fourth-year pro’s potential. Hopkins is adamant Likely can be a “great tight end for a while,” per Ravens.com Editorial Director Ryan Mink.
It’s a bold statement, but a realistic prediction for a dynamic, move target who can line up anywhere and make plays. Those qualities increase the imperative for Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta to secure Likely’s future before the fourth-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft is eligible for free agency next year.
Andrews is also set to enter the veteran market in 2026, and while the 29-year-old’s future remains uncertain, the Ravens won’t want to deplete resources for their favorite offensive formation.
Ravens Still Need Two-Tight Ends Magic
Nobody used the two-tight end formation as effectively and in as many ways as Ravens’ offensive coordinator Todd Monken did last season. Monken used the set as a platform to create big plays on the ground and through the air.
The latter showed up during a Week 5 road win over the Cincinnati Bengals, when backup tight end Charlie Kolar got free for a 55-yard catch and run. As Mike Renner of CBS Sports highlighted, the Ravens unleashed a quartet of vertical routes from a condensed formation.
Kolar went deep on a go-route from a traditional in-line alignment, but Likely going in motion to the other side and running a circle pattern was also significant. It showed the multiple ways Monken used two tight ends to expand Baltimore’s passing game.
That’s a significant advantage for keeping defenses guessing. A two-tight end look usually indicates a run, but the Ravens have used it to condense defenses closer to the line of scrimmage and create coverage mismatches within the deep portions of the field.
Those mismatches only work when opposing teams are fearful of a credible threat to run. The Ravens are more credible than most, thanks to bulldozer Derrick Henry running behind lines overloaded by more than one tight end.
Monken called the formula relentlessly when Henry battered the Dallas Cowboys with “10 carries/83 yards out of 22 personnel (2RB, 2TE. 1WR)” in Week 3, according to ESPN’s Matt Bowen.
The Ravens can muscle any defense on the ground, while also being able to transition to stretching the field through the air in an instant. All thanks to their cadre of gifted and versatile tight ends.
It means that although Likely may become the star, while Andrews’ role declines, both will remain invaluable to how the Ravens move the ball this season.