When the New York Giants signed former Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely to a three-year, $40 million contract as a free agent in March, many fans were left scratching their heads.
The Giants need a wide receiver, not a tight end. Likely to be a 6-foot-4, 240-pound middle man who is the Ravens’ No. 2 player behind Pro Bowler Mark Andrews. New York already has a quality receiver at the position in Theo Johnson and a top blocker in Chris Manhertz, so why does it need Lekley?
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Likely to be joined by another former Ravens linebacker, Patrick Ricard, to add physicality to the Giants offense under new head coach John Harbaugh (their former coach in Baltimore).
Like Rickard, the All-Pro player they call “Pancake Pat,” he likely understands how to play the Harbaugh way. That’s why he’s here.
“Up front, you’re going to be physical, you’re going to be violent, you’re going to play the full sixty minutes like you’ve won the whole game, and you’re going to fight until you get the W,” Lakeley said in March.
“I mean, from the first possession to the last possession, that’s what Coach Habs preaches every day, every practice, every meeting, every team meeting, you understand that what you get from Coach Habs is what you get from the first day you have him to the last day you have him.”
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Harbaugh told the crowd at the Giants’ annual town hall Monday night at the Beacon Theater in New York City about his feelings on the tight ends entering the team’s OTA room this week.
“I think there’s probably no better tight end in the league,” Harbaugh said, via the New York Post. “Jackson has a lot of guys to go to.”
Jackson, of course, is second-year quarterback Jackson Dart. He’s already a natural fit in the team’s offseason plans. A new top-tier pitching-catching combination may be in the works.
Probably knowing how much Dart likes his tight ends is another reason why he chose to come to New York.
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“Man, Jackson, you know, a great quarterback, a great young quarterback,” Lakeley said. “He obviously shows a lot of charisma when he’s on the field. It’s a pleasure to go out there and play with him. When you watch him, you see his drive to win any game by any means necessary. You love when you have a quarterback like that, he’s ready to do whatever it takes to win the game.”
Harbaugh has been excited from the start about what Lekley will bring to the Giants’ tight end group.
“He’s a playmaking football player,” Harbaugh said of Lakeley last month. “I’ve seen him in a variety of situations… He has a great catch radius. He can run after the catch. He can get downfield. He can make people miss. He can knock people down. He’s a very good outside blocker. You’ll see. It’s good for our run game.”
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: John Harbaugh has nothing but praise for New York Giants tight end room
