The Patriots didn’t just miss out on a tight end this spring. They watched the exact kind of player fans had circled all offseason go somewhere else, then put on a show in his new uniform.
Isaiah Likely had been the name hovering near the top of New England’s wish list. With free agency opening earlier this year, Patriots fans were looking for help in a few spots, especially at edge rusher and tight end.
The appeal with Likely was obvious: a young, rising playmaker who could eventually grow into the kind of No. 1 tight end an offense can build around. For a team with Hunter Henry already in place, he looked like the perfect future complement.
There was another layer to it, too. Likely is from Massachusetts and grew up a Patriots fan, which made the fit feel almost too neat.
A homecoming made sense. It had momentum.
Then it vanished when he signed a three-year, $40 million deal with the Giants.
That alone would have been enough to frustrate Patriots fans. What happened next only sharpened the regret.
In his Giants debut on Sunday Night Football this week, Likely looked every bit like the player New England had hoped to land. He finished with a team-high 8 receptions for 78 yards and two touchdowns, including several standout catches on messy third downs that kept the Cowboys from getting the ball back with a chance to tie the game.
Those are the exact kinds of moments that made him so appealing in the first place. He’s 26, his best football should still be ahead of him, and he’s now set to build chemistry with another young quarterback - Jaxson Dart, not Drake Maye. That pairing is the sort of thing Patriots fans could easily picture helping their own offense once Henry’s time as TE1 comes to an end.
Instead, New England is left hoping the answer is already in the building. Rookie Eli Raridon scored the Patriots’ only touchdown in Week 1, which was a nice jolt after what had been an underwhelming summer for him. The path for Raridon is still there, and Henry is a strong mentor to learn from over the next few years.
But Raridon is only 22, and there’s still a lot he has to figure out before he can be the kind of game-changing tight end the Patriots need. If he gets there, the sting of watching Likely thrive in New York will fade some.
For now, though, it’s hard not to wonder what could have been.
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