{"id":471435,"date":"2026-02-16T05:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T05:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/471435\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T05:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T05:52:12","slug":"top-free-agent-tight-end-asks-patriots-to-bring-him-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/471435\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Free Agent Tight End Asks Patriots To Bring Him &#8216;Home&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The New England Patriots will have a lot of money to spend when 2026 free agency officially kicks off on March 11. There aren\u2019t too many big-budget resignings to make, so much of New England\u2019s more than $32 million in cap space will go toward acquiring new talent.<\/p>\n<p>Of all the areas to address, none is more urgent than getting quarterback Drake Maye more pass catchers.<\/p>\n<p>The Patriots have been heavily rumored to be interested in Baltimore Ravens free-agent tight end Isaiah Likely. <\/p>\n<p>Likely fanned the flames of these rumors on Thursday night when he <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jasrifootball\/status\/2023136552780529709?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">made an Instagram post<\/a> that showed him courtside at a Boston Celtics game.<\/p>\n<p>An Instagram user commented, \u201cCome back home, bro.\u201d Likely \u201cliked\u201d the comment in a non-private gesture that can be seen by all users.<\/p>\n<p class=\"nesn-in-content-ad__copy\">Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>In this day and age, nothing is accidental on social media. <\/p>\n<p>The 25-year-old was born and raised in Cambridge, Mass. He graduated from Everett High School after transferring from Malden. He is Boston through and through. <\/p>\n<p>Whether Likely\u2019s social media jab was a move to put pressure on his current team or a genuine olive branch extended to the Patriots organization, one thing is for sure: Likely should be one of New England\u2019s top free-agent targets this offseason.<\/p>\n<p class=\"nesn-in-content-ad__copy\">Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The young tight end has been a consistent contributor for the Ravens since he was drafted in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<p>He combined for 784 yards and eight touchdowns in his first two seasons, but really made a name for himself in 2024 when he finished with a career-high 42 receptions for 477 yards and six touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>Likely played out his rookie contract as the No. 2 tight end on Baltimore\u2019s offense, stuck behind All-Pro tight end Mark Andrews in the pecking order.<\/p>\n<p class=\"nesn-in-content-ad__copy\">Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>His top-end athleticism makes him a breakout candidate that would thrive in offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels offense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New England Patriots will have a lot of money to spend when 2026 free agency officially kicks&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-471435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}