Tank
Hall of Famer
OK, but the point being is that his crazy great running is what made him the unanimous selection as MVP and the 2019 offense what it was.
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The 2022 Offseason Thread
- Thread starter rossihunter2
- Start date
allblackraven
Hall of Famer
Yep, he won't be asked to do half of that stuff in real games but he will have pretty good idea of what's going on and what the rest of the guys are doing (or are supposed to do).
Old Bay
Veteran
Hopefully, we don't need to. I love when he runs, but for his longevity, it's best that we don't need to rely so much on those plays.
airconteka
MVP
Chad Reuter have Hamilton a B+ grade which I think is about bang on.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
I’m not really worried as much about wrs, I’m just excited to see how andrews and likely are used together, because we haven’t had this kind of TE duo with Lamar and Roman, we had a 3TE set with the classic receiver, blocker, and mover dynamic, but to put 2 dangerous receiving weapons at TE is a different story. That dude likely looks like he’s gonna become a major focal point moving forward
ravenslord
Ravens Ring of Honor
Likely's performance on Sunday was the best preseason performance by a rookie in Ravens history. Man am i excited to see Andrews & Likely on the field together. You won't be able to key on Mark anymore.
UPennChem
Hall of Famer
If you look back at some college highlights of Likely, you'll come to the conclusion that he looks even better as a Raven than he did in college.
In college he was always open. And not by a little he was WIDE open. Clearly he was just beating on lesser talent. At least this preseason you and in practice you can see what he's able to do against NFL talent. He's not open anymore in the way he was in college, but he's NFL open! And making contested catches.
The guy just has that "it". Imagine if Kolar is any good too!
In college he was always open. And not by a little he was WIDE open. Clearly he was just beating on lesser talent. At least this preseason you and in practice you can see what he's able to do against NFL talent. He's not open anymore in the way he was in college, but he's NFL open! And making contested catches.
The guy just has that "it". Imagine if Kolar is any good too!
airconteka
MVP
You guys need to chill on Likely. He's a preseason phenomenon until he ain't. I'll be happy with 500 yards and 4tds against the Jets
UPennChem
Hall of Famer
No one is saying he's going to put up 1000 yards in this offense. No one is saying anything about his numbers this year. You've seen it time and time again. People keep saying down the road he'll play a prominent role in this offense.
This year he is solidly going to be TE3 where there's also a FB that gets a ton of snaps. Likely is probably only going to be good for one or two solid plays per game this upcoming year.
Going forward though (next few years), as he gets better at everything, but in particular blocking, he's going to get an expanded role.
Tank
Hall of Famer
We'll see, but he looks like the real deal. Likely to be very good.
Likely is such an interesting one because I came away confused when evaluating him. He looked super athletic on tape and then went to the combine/pro day and looked like just a guy. But even the tape was up and down. Did some things where I wanted to put a day 2 grade on him and then others undrafted. One of the hardest evals I've had in recent years because I just didn't know what to think. Hopefully that day 2 view I had on him keeps showing up.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
I agree. I think its mostly about the usage for me. Like, realistically, what's a good target share for him? Short of injuries, he's going to be, at best, the third highest targeted player in the passing game. And that's a passing game that figures to decrease since last year into a more run-based offense.
Last year, the 3rd option in the passing game averaged just under 6 targets per game, which was Bateman. His weekly average was basically 4 catches for 45 yards.
In 2020, the 3rd option in the passing game was Snead, who averaged a little under 4 targets per game. His weekly average was basically 2-3 catches for about 30 yards.
In 2019, which may be a good indicator, the 3rd option was basically a combination of Hurst and Snead. They both averaged in the ballpark of 2-3 targets per game, and had a weekly average of roughly 2 catches for 22 yards.
So, for me, I'm not seeing the volume available for Likely to have like a gigantic season, UNLESS, there's a significant injury to Andrews. Like even if Likely were to manage to get like 5 targets a week, you're probably looking at something like 4/40-50 on a weekly basis. A good line, but nothing close to what Andrews did last year.
UPennChem
Hall of Famer
Literally this!!! But huge numbers is not the point of Likely this season. It's to come in, help disguise the offense, and take advantage of single coverage. You'll likely see that Likely's plays are few and far between, BUT they'll be chunk plays.
If he can come in and 2-3 times a game make a nice little splash play he'll have done amazing for us.
agree and if Kolar is good he will become expendable at some point.
exactly and I'd be really happy to see him get 4 targets per game. However I think the 3rd option is going to be a combination of Proche and Likely.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Agreed. I'm not nearly convinced Likely is the 3rd option. But I'm setting realistic goals for what his ceiling looks like for this year, assuming a fully healthy season from Andrews. Maybe if Bateman gets hurt Likely sees an uptick, but not as significant in my opinion.
30-40 yards per game would be a great season for Likely. And you're talking like 400-500 yards for the season.
cobrajet
Hall of Famer
I will be the first to admit, I don’t exactly understand all the x’s and o’s of football. I know my favorite kind of football is the old school “smash mouth“ football. Run it down their throats (wishing every run was like Derrick Henry crashing through people and guys like Patrick Ricard freight training the defense). I hope I am not risking too much embarrassment by asking this question. My question is this:
If we have TE’s like Andrews and Likely making plays all over the field and a solid receiver like Bateman, why is everyone sweating the WR#3 position? I understand having a burner like Hollywood keeps the defense back a little, but I also understand the go-routes are lower percentage plays and I hate wasting downs. It seems to me, so many Ravens fans and analysts are sweating us not having more quality receivers, but if Andrews, Likely, and Bateman stay healthy…..why all the sweat? If JK comes back strong, Proche or Duvernay play well….along with guys like Boyle and Ricard…..isn’t this a quality offense (especially if my man Gus the Bus gets back)?
As long as we don’t kill ourselves with penalties, it makes no sense to me that we can’t move ten yards in four downs with the guys we have, especially when Lamar is on the field. Why all the sweat over WR #3 and #4? Is it depth or just people like the passing game so much?
If we have TE’s like Andrews and Likely making plays all over the field and a solid receiver like Bateman, why is everyone sweating the WR#3 position? I understand having a burner like Hollywood keeps the defense back a little, but I also understand the go-routes are lower percentage plays and I hate wasting downs. It seems to me, so many Ravens fans and analysts are sweating us not having more quality receivers, but if Andrews, Likely, and Bateman stay healthy…..why all the sweat? If JK comes back strong, Proche or Duvernay play well….along with guys like Boyle and Ricard…..isn’t this a quality offense (especially if my man Gus the Bus gets back)?
As long as we don’t kill ourselves with penalties, it makes no sense to me that we can’t move ten yards in four downs with the guys we have, especially when Lamar is on the field. Why all the sweat over WR #3 and #4? Is it depth or just people like the passing game so much?
Michael M.
Pro Bowler
The latter, because you need it in the post season.