Ravens TE Isaiah Likely's Price Tag Revealed

Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely is heading into the final year of his rookie deal. What will it cost the Ravens to keep him?

According to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic, Baltimore is going to have to pay him top-five money at the position.

"They probably are going to have to, or at least come close," Zrebiec writes. "The tight end market is only going to increase every offseason. When you sign these deals with ascending players, you have to bet on potential. You can’t just pay a player for what they have done. Your offer, in some ways, has to also reflect what they’re capable of doing. And I’ll say this: if they don’t pay Likely top-five tight end money, somebody else will and they’ll likely lose him in free agency."

If that holds true, that means the Ravens will sign Likely to a multi-year deal that pays him somewhere between $14-19 million per year.

San Francisco 49ers' George Kittle is currently the highest-paid tight end in the league on a $19.1 million average while Ravens tight end Mark Andrews brings up the back of the top five at $14 million per year.

It's unlikely Likely will reset the market, but his big payday will be a bit of a gamble for Baltimore. While the 25-year-old is coming off the best season of his young NFL career, during which he recorded a career-high 42 catches for 477 yards and six touchdowns, he has yet to put up the same numbers as the rest of the top tight ends in the league.

However, the Ravens don't have a choice if they want to retain the rising star. Unfortunately, that will also likely mean the end of Andrews' time in Baltimore.

Andrews, 29, also has one year left on his contract and is coming off a very up and down season, which was highlighted by a crucial two-point conversion drop in the Ravens' 27-25 divisional round loss to the Buffalo Bills.