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The 2023 Offseason Thread

Dom McRaven

Hall of Famer
If all 3 of our top WRs are healthy, along with Andrews…. I don’t see a lot of targets for him.
Neither do I and that slowly worries me. But Monken is the wild card in all of this. We'll see how adaptive he is towards this personnel. But back to Likely, he kinda strikes me as one who'll end up voicing his displeasure of not getting enough touches (i.e. Hurst, Hollywood, etc.).
 

purplepittabread88

Staff Member
Administrator
Likely was a beast last preseason. Unfortunately, it didn't translate consistently during the season, but when it did, we saw the potential. With the addition of Zay and OBJ, we'll see how many targets he get.
No rookie tight end not named Gronk has ever been good. we spent a lot of time trying to teach likely how to block and by my eye he got better over the year
 

marklar

Pro Bowler
With the new fair catch to the 25yd rule, why don't they just remove the kickoff altogether. It is already too few meaningful returns and now you can't even pin the other team deep with a good hangtime kick inside the 5.
Eithet make it a meaningful play or abolish it altogethet, I am fine with either
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
Lost in the flowers and Beckham hype, is Bateman and likely. We all know about Bateman and know that he just needs to be healthy, his lack of hype is more of a media thing, but we on PF are sleeping on Likely. If we are gonna be both running and passing out of 2 TE sets then I’m looking for Likely to take a big step forward, he can separate and he can make very difficult catches but what gets forgotten is his YAC ability, that’s what could separate him from the typical TE2, he’s not just gonna make possession style catches like nick boyle did, he can catch the ball and make big plays with his feet, he’s got a dirty ass knack for planting as he’s making the catch and changing direction once he secures the ball, leaving dbs much faster than him grasping at air as he runs away.

TLDR; I’m expecting Isaiah Likely to be a massive difference maker this season, he may not have the volume, but he will make the plays.

i hope so

monken's talked about the game as a space game which would suggest that likely's going to be a part of this offence
but i also wouldnt get over-excited - he's likely the 5th receiver on this team at best... 6th or 7th if Dobbins takes a step in the passing game and Duvernay's still a part of the offence

but you could definitely be right that in critical places, he may well be the straw that breaks the camel's back of a defence
 
No rookie tight end not named Gronk has ever been good. we spent a lot of time trying to teach likely how to block and by my eye he got better over the year
Yeah he did just fine for a rookie. He will get his targets regardless of injury to others. The question is will he make the best of his opportunities. If he does it could be a very exciting offense with 2 legit TE’s who can both contribute in catches and in blocking.
 

JoeyFlex5

Hall of Famer
i hope so

monken's talked about the game as a space game which would suggest that likely's going to be a part of this offence
but i also wouldnt get over-excited - he's likely the 5th receiver on this team at best... 6th or 7th if Dobbins takes a step in the passing game and Duvernay's still a part of the offence

but you could definitely be right that in critical places, he may well be the straw that breaks the camel's back of a defence
That’s exactly what I’m trying to say, if Likely is the 5th option on the defenses priority list, then they’re gonna have their goddamn hands full every snap, because that dude looks like a nightmare to defend with how suddenly he changes direction and how easily he leverages himself at the catch point.
 

Tank

Hall of Famer
Lost in the flowers and Beckham hype, is Bateman and likely. We all know about Bateman and know that he just needs to be healthy, his lack of hype is more of a media thing, but we on PF are sleeping on Likely. If we are gonna be both running and passing out of 2 TE sets then I’m looking for Likely to take a big step forward, he can separate and he can make very difficult catches but what gets forgotten is his YAC ability, that’s what could separate him from the typical TE2, he’s not just gonna make possession style catches like nick boyle did, he can catch the ball and make big plays with his feet, he’s got a dirty ass knack for planting as he’s making the catch and changing direction once he secures the ball, leaving dbs much faster than him grasping at air as he runs away.

TLDR; I’m expecting Isaiah Likely to be a massive difference maker this season, he may not have the volume, but he will make the plays.
Agreed. Likely with a season under his belt is going to be a beast. While defenses focus on others at times, he’ll be the one mopping up.
 

QtR Nevermore

Pro Bowler
Neither do I and that slowly worries me. But Monken is the wild card in all of this. We'll see how adaptive he is towards this personnel. But back to Likely, he kinda strikes me as one who'll end up voicing his displeasure of not getting enough touches (i.e. Hurst, Hollywood, etc.).
We've got to hope that Monken isn't Roman, whose head exploded when given more than 2 potential targets, and he can find ways to use Likely, even when Andrews isn't injured.

Not saying that Isaiah isn't likely to be traded at some point, but hopefully we can get a couple more good years out of him before that happens.

I'm confident Monken can see that having potentially 2 really good pass catching TEs is a big advantage, rather than an irrelevance whenever the first one was healthy, like his predecessor did.
 

Tank

Hall of Famer
We've got to hope that Monken isn't Roman, whose head exploded when given more than 2 potential targets, and he can find ways to use Likely, even when Andrews isn't injured.

Not saying that Isaiah isn't likely to be traded at some point, but hopefully we can get a couple more good years out of him before that happens.

I'm confident Monken can see that having potentially 2 really good pass catching TEs is a big advantage, rather than an irrelevance whenever the first one was healthy, like his predecessor did.
While I agree the hope is Monken improves the passing schemes and finds ways to open up the field, I also hope he’s half as good as Roman with the run game. We definitely don’t have the squad to become a passing juggernaut, at least not without a stellar run offense. After all, that’s what made things go in 2019 and is the strongest side of LJ’s game.
 

QtR Nevermore

Pro Bowler
While I agree the hope is Monken improves the passing schemes and finds ways to open up the field, I also hope he’s half as good as Roman with the run game. We definitely don’t have the squad to become a passing juggernaut, at least not without a stellar run offense. After all, that’s what made things go in 2019 and is the strongest side of LJ’s game.
Very few teams with a running QB don't have good running games, so I'm not too worried. (Part of my frustration with Roman's heavy investment in the run in personnel, scheme and practice time was that 80% of the yards would have been there anyway, without all that). Defenses will never be able to go full on ''invite the run to shut down the pass" as long as we've got Lamar at QB and they'll still have some of the Roman 22 personnel stuff available for must run situations.

I'm looking forward to seeing how an increased threat from the passing game opens up run opportunities. I've always wanted to see Lamar run out of formations that spread defenses out rather than condense them down, so I think he'll quite possibly have his highest career yardage per carry
 

RavensMania

Staff Member
Administrator
Very few teams with a running QB don't have good running games, so I'm not too worried. (Part of my frustration with Roman's heavy investment in the run in personnel, scheme and practice time was that 80% of the yards would have been there anyway, without all that). Defenses will never be able to go full on ''invite the run to shut down the pass" as long as we've got Lamar at QB and they'll still have some of the Roman 22 personnel stuff available for must run situations.

I'm looking forward to seeing how an increased threat from the passing game opens up run opportunities. I've always wanted to see Lamar run out of formations that spread defenses out rather than condense them down, so I think he'll quite possibly have his highest career yardage per carry
under Roman they had very little practice time in the passing game.
 

rmcjacket23

Ravens Ring of Honor
That’s exactly what I’m trying to say, if Likely is the 5th option on the defenses priority list, then they’re gonna have their goddamn hands full every snap, because that dude looks like a nightmare to defend with how suddenly he changes direction and how easily he leverages himself at the catch point.
I mean maybe. When is he going to get the ball though and when is he going to be running routes? He played 40% of offensive snaps last year, with a non-existent WR room and a banged up Andrews for several weeks. And in an offense that Roman utilized a lot of multi-TE looks.

If we're going to be running a lot more 3 WR sets, which I think everybody expects we will, that means a lot more one or even zero TE sets.

Assuming normalized health, I think Likely is the kind of guy who gets 1-2 target a week or something similar to that. Just don't see how the volume or personnel groupings benefit him, given the influx of WRs. Maybe against specific teams/matchups they go for exploitation, but I don't see him having significant presence in the offense consistently week-to-week.
 

Tank

Hall of Famer
Very few teams with a running QB don't have good running games, so I'm not too worried. (Part of my frustration with Roman's heavy investment in the run in personnel, scheme and practice time was that 80% of the yards would have been there anyway, without all that). Defenses will never be able to go full on ''invite the run to shut down the pass" as long as we've got Lamar at QB and they'll still have some of the Roman 22 personnel stuff available for must run situations.

I'm looking forward to seeing how an increased threat from the passing game opens up run opportunities. I've always wanted to see Lamar run out of formations that spread defenses out rather than condense them down, so I think he'll quite possibly have his highest career yardage per carry
Just don’t agree with the 80% thing. Say what you want about him, but Roman’s run/blocking schemes were at times genius and often confused the hell out of opposing defenses.

The threat of a formidable passing game could very well open up run opportunities, but for that to happen LJ will need to take a couple of steps forward in his abilities to accurately and consistently make all the throws. Hopefully that’s how things shake out.
 
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