The Ravens' mistake with Isaiah Likely and Mark Andrews has never been more obvious

The Baltimore Ravens are getting burned in real time over their decision to stick with tight end Mark Andrews over his former counterpart, Isaiah Likely. The latter chose to follow former Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh to New York, where he's now one of the Giants' top pass-catchers.

Since the start of the 2026 campaign, Likely has totaled 284 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 33 catches. His performance through five games has already nearly bested his 14-game total from last season (307 yards, 27 catches, one TD) and is well on track to blast past his career highs from the 2024 campaign (477 yards, 42 catches, six TDs). Andrews, on the other hand, is still getting his healthy share of targets but is continuing to underperform after his 2021 breakout, in which he racked up 1,361 yards and nine scores.

You can't really chalk the difference up to quarterback play, either. Andrews has Lamar Jackson and a very capable Snoop Huntley getting him the rock, while Likely started with a single game of Jaxson Dart before having to now navigate the Jameis Winston experience. Likely has just proven to be the more efficient tight end, and that's got to have Baltimore regretting not doing everything it could to keep him around.

Isaiah Likely is poised to outshine Mark Andrews in the long run

It's tough to say Andrews is a bad tight end, because he isn't. He's still a good option for the Ravens' offense. But he's currently elevated to a role he won't be able to sustain much longer now that he's 31 years old. He's much more of a plodding possession type now, and he's fallen down the Baltimore hierarchy with the ascension of Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman.

Andrews hasn't missed a game the last two seasons, but he began to show cracks after sitting out nine total contests across the 2022 and 2023 campaigns with injury. His age is only going to leave him more vulnerable to bumps and bruises, and the team could've solved that issue by picking the younger, more versatile Likely during this past offseason.

But then, what would Baltimore have done with Andrews? Likely wouldn't have re-signed with the team if he was going to have to share targets with the three-time Pro Bowl selection. That's where general manager Eric DeCosta could've gotten creative. Andrews signed a three-year extension in 2025, which made him hard to move from the jump. His $39.2 million deal came with an affordable salary cap hit in 2026 ($6.979 million) and a potential out after the season before the double-digit cap hits rear their heads. There would've been a market for a team to bite on a trade.

Baltimore is stuck with Andrews now and will have to prepare to draft his successor — again. The Ravens' Week 5 escape from Atlanta with an overtime win was the latest example of Andrews' late-career struggles coming to fruition. He dropped a touchdown pass, fumbled a ball that was recovered for a score the other way early in the first quarter, then dropped a two-point conversion and a key third-down conversion later in the game.

The performance had shades of the two-point conversion Andrews dropped in Buffalo during the fourth quarter of a playoff game that earned him the ire of the fan base in 2025. The team turned around and gave him a new deal afterwards. Now the Ravens are reaping what they sowed, while Harbaugh and the Giants are inexplicably grinding their way through a season without their QB1 — lifted by the elevating play of Likely.

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