The New York Giants are getting everything they hoped for and then some out of Isaiah Likely.
Back in March, the three-year, $40 million deal raised eyebrows because it looked like starter money for a player who had spent most of his time in Baltimore behind Mark Andrews. Eight games into the season, that skepticism has flipped fast. Likely is producing like a centerpiece, not a backup, and the Giants’ investment is starting to look like a steal.
In Sunday’s messy 19-11 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Likely hauled in five catches for 53 yards and scored the Giants’ only touchdown. That pushed him to 46 receptions on the year, which already tops his previous single-season high by four, with nine games still left to play.
The numbers keep climbing. Likely now has 70 targets, six touchdowns and 448 receiving yards, leaving him just 29 yards short of his previous best of 477. One more touchdown would move him into the outright league lead with seven, and 30 more receiving yards would give him a new career high there, too.
There’s also a real chance this turns into a franchise-level season. Over a full 17-game pace, Likely is tracking toward 98 catches, 952 yards and 13 touchdowns.
For a Giants tight end, that’s territory worth paying attention to. Mark Bavaro’s 1,001 receiving yards in 1986 still stand as the team record at the position, with Jeremy Shockey next at 894 in 2002, followed by his 891 in 2005, Aaron Thomas’ 877 in 1967 and Bavaro’s 867 in 1987.
What makes the surge even more striking is that Likely has done it with three different quarterbacks throwing him the ball. Jaxson Dart, J.J. McCarthy and Jameis Winston have all taken snaps, and the 6-foot-4, 240-pound tight end has kept piling up production no matter who’s under center.
The Giants signed him believing the limited numbers in Baltimore were more about opportunity than talent. That bet is looking better by the week.
His old career highs - 42 catches, 477 yards and six touchdowns - never really matched the price tag. Now he’s already at 46 receptions, closing in on the yardage mark and tied for the touchdown lead, with a chance to keep rewriting the script Thursday night against the Washington Commanders.
And if the cap hit jumps to $17.666 million next season, the Giants probably won’t mind much if this is what they’re buying.
In Other News...
Giants Face A Brutal MetLife Problem Before Commanders Showdown
Thursday night brings an NFC East meeting at MetLife Stadium, and the setup is about as unfriendly as it gets for a November prime-time game. The Giants will host the Commanders under cold, rainy conditions, with forecasts calling for significant rainfall and wind gusts that could make every snap a little messier than usual. It is the kind of weather that tends to strip away the polish and turn a divisional game into a survival test.
For the Giants, that adds another layer to a matchup already carrying some edge because of Washingtons road struggles. A slick field and steady wind can push both teams toward a lower-scoring script, and it also raises the risk of the kind of incidental injuries that often come with sloppy footing and crowded traffic. In a game like this, execution matters even more, and whoever handles the conditions better may end up controlling a matchup that already looked like it could be decided by the smallest of margins. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Face A J.J. McCarthy Dilemma They Can't Ignore
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Now the challenge is less about what he can do and more about how much the Giants should ask him to do. McCarthy is still working through a hip injury he picked up against the Eagles, and the concern inside the building is obvious: keep him upright, keep him available, and avoid exposing him to unnecessary punishment. That has put a spotlight on his usage, especially the designed quarterback runs that can add stress to a body the Giants need healthy for the stretch run. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Are Forcing A Playoff Debate Nobody Expected So Soon
The Giants have turned October into something far more interesting than a rebuilding exercise. At 5-2-1, they are suddenly in position to win the NFC East for the first time since 2011, and the numbers back up the surge. Even with injuries hitting key players, New York has stayed in the top half of the league in both offensive and defensive expected points added per play, which helps explain why the conversation around this team has shifted so quickly.
John Harbaughs group has also changed the math in a division that looked like it would be fought over by the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders. New Yorks playoff probability has climbed to 66 percent, a mark that would have sounded ambitious not long ago, but now feels like a fair reflection of how the Giants have been playing. The bigger question is no longer whether they belong in the mix, but how long they can keep forcing everyone else to treat them like a real contender. [Read more 🡒]