Isaiah Likely broke a bone in his foot. That looks notable to me – I think it will change the flow of Baltimore’s passing offense.
For the bulk of the offseason, there’s been some wondering if this would be the year Likely ascended to being Baltimore’s top tight end. Mark Andrews (pictured) had a pair of key errors in the fourth quarter of the playoff loss at Buffalo, including a fumble and a dropped 2-point conversion that would have tied the game. There was some speculation whether they might trade him.
But that didn’t happen, and now it’s starting to look more likely that it will be business as usual. John Harbaugh says he expects Likely to be sidelined for a couple of weeks, with it being a possibility that he’ll be available in Week 1, but that looks awfully optimistic. I’m not confident he’ll be in uniform for the opener, and if he is, it will be after limited reps in August.
So I think we’re back to Andrews looking like a top-5 tight end. After putting up a couple of early-season goose eggs last year, he was lights out down the stretch, averaging 3.8 catches for 47 yards in his final 13 games, with 11 touchdowns.
There’s a rapport between Andrews and Lamar Jackson. Over the last four years, Andrews has caught 31 touchdowns, tying for best among tight ends.
Below see the 36 tight ends who’ve caught at least 100 passes over the past four years. Andrews has caught 29 percent of his team’s touchdowns in that span, best at the position. If we assume Jackson throws about 30 TDs this year, with Andrews playing at his usual clip, that would put him in line for about 9 TDs.
And Andrews isn’t just a goal-line guy. He’s caught 19 percent of the Ravens’ passes over the last four years (No. 2 among tight ends), and accounted for 22 percent of their yards (No. 3).
Andrews is a veteran, but he’s still relatively young (29 in early September). I think he’s got another good year in him.
| PERCENTAGE OF TEAM'S TOUCHDOWNS (last 4 yrs) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rec | Yds | TD | %Rec | %Yds | %TD |
| Mark Andrews | 280 | 3,425 | 31 | 19% | 22% | 29% |
| George Kittle | 274 | 3,801 | 31 | 18% | 22% | 28% |
| Brock Bowers | 112 | 1,194 | 5 | 18% | 29% | 26% |
| Pat Freiermuth | 220 | 2,190 | 18 | 14% | 15% | 26% |
| Hunter Henry | 199 | 2,205 | 19 | 12% | 15% | 25% |
| Sam LaPorta | 146 | 1,615 | 17 | 15% | 18% | 25% |
| Cole Kmet | 230 | 2,349 | 17 | 16% | 18% | 23% |
| David Njoku | 239 | 2,490 | 19 | 14% | 17% | 23% |
| Travis Kelce | 392 | 4,270 | 29 | 21% | 23% | 22% |
| Juwan Johnson | 142 | 1,583 | 18 | 9% | 10% | 18% |
| Dalton Schultz | 247 | 2,552 | 20 | 14% | 15% | 17% |
| Isaiah Likely | 108 | 1,261 | 14 | 10% | 11% | 16% |
| Zach Ertz | 214 | 2,010 | 17 | 11% | 10% | 15% |
| Evan Engram | 280 | 2,502 | 12 | 16% | 16% | 15% |
| Jonnu Smith | 193 | 2,005 | 12 | 12% | 13% | 15% |
| Dawson Knox | 141 | 1,601 | 18 | 8% | 10% | 14% |
| Kyle Pitts | 196 | 2,651 | 10 | 13% | 18% | 13% |
| Dallas Goedert | 212 | 2,620 | 12 | 14% | 17% | 13% |
| Logan Thomas | 112 | 1,015 | 8 | 10% | 9% | 12% |
| Tyler Higbee | 188 | 1,741 | 12 | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Gerald Everett | 165 | 1,480 | 11 | 9% | 9% | 11% |
| Foster Moreau | 116 | 1,399 | 11 | 7% | 8% | 11% |
| Tyler Conklin | 231 | 2,215 | 10 | 13% | 14% | 11% |
| Trey McBride | 221 | 2,236 | 6 | 17% | 20% | 11% |
| Austin Hooper | 149 | 1,499 | 8 | 10% | 11% | 11% |
| Cade Otton | 148 | 1,446 | 10 | 10% | 11% | 11% |
| T.J. Hockenson | 283 | 2,912 | 15 | 13% | 13% | 10% |
| Mike Gesicki | 199 | 2,051 | 11 | 11% | 12% | 10% |
| Noah Fant | 198 | 2,070 | 9 | 12% | 13% | 10% |
| Darren Waller | 135 | 1,605 | 6 | 12% | 14% | 9% |
| Jordan Akins | 116 | 1,231 | 7 | 7% | 8% | 8% |
| Jake Ferguson | 149 | 1,429 | 7 | 10% | 12% | 8% |
| Noah Gray | 103 | 1,077 | 9 | 5% | 6% | 7% |
| Dalton Kincaid | 117 | 1,121 | 4 | 13% | 14% | 7% |
| Will Dissly | 122 | 1,233 | 7 | 8% | 8% | 7% |
| Hayden Hurst | 104 | 892 | 6 | 6% | 6% | 7% |
—Ian Allan