John Harbaugh has brought four of his former Baltimore Ravens players to the New York Giants. What does each bring? Nikhil Mehta of SB Nation\u2019s Baltimore Beatdown joined the \u2018Valentine\u2019s Views\u2019 podcast to answer that, and more.<\/p>\n
Here is some of our conversation.<\/p>\n
\u2018More meat on the bone\u2019 for Isaiah Likely<\/p>\n
[This section begins at 8:19]<\/p>\n
Mehta and I discussed whether Likely\u2019s three-year, $40 million contract was an overpay, and whether or not his production (a career-best 42 season in four years with the Ravens) could rise with the Giants.<\/p>\n
Mehta gave a lengthy answer. Below is part of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there more meat on the bone? God, yes. There is so much potential that Isaiah likely has,\u201d Mehta said. \u201cForty million over three years is is a lot of money for a guy who doesn\u2019t have that high-end volume production. But I also think that you\u2019re kind of projecting that he is going to get the tight end one-level targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also think that he could he could very easily establish himself as a top 10 tight end this year, could grow into a top five tight end. I really do think the sky is the limit for Isaiah Likely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mehta admitted, though, that the contract will seem like an overpay until Likely puts up the numbers to justify it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will feel like an overpay until he\u2019s producing on the field and he will need to be able to bring his efficiency with higher volume. And that\u2019s not something that always translates,\u201d Mehta said. \u201cBut, man, if there\u2019s a player I think I believe in out of the ones the Giants signed to really take more steps forward, it\u2019s Isaiah Likely. Great player, good personality, loved in the locker room as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is punter Jordan Stout worth the money?<\/p>\n
[This section starts at roughly the 14-minute mark]<\/p>\n
The Giants gave Stout a market-setting three-year, $12.3 million contract. I did not get the rining endorsement of that move from Mehta that I expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure Jordan Stout is worth that kind of money,\u201d Mehta said. \u201cHe\u2019s coming off of one really, really good season as a former fourth-round pick. Took him a couple years to put it together. I can see him being able to be one of the best punters in the league consistently, but consistency was a huge issue for him through his career. So, it\u2019s hard for me to look at his 2025 season and say he\u2019s going to be able to repeat this every year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a very good punter. He is a very good holder. He\u2019s going to bring value. I\u2019m just not sure he\u2019s going to put up a top five punterseason, top 10 punter season that consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrick Ricard and the Harbaugh way<\/p>\n
[This section begins around the 17:30 mark]<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how much [offensive coordinator] Matt Nagy uses fullbacks in his offense. From what I can tell, he hasn\u2019t historically,\u201d Mehta said. \u201cBut Ricard also functions like a sixth offensive lineman sometimes with a little bit more mobility and and I think there are some ways to use him a little bit more creatively. I\u2019m curious to see if Nagy pulls that out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other thing is that he is another one of those guys, a veteran leader, a guy who is liked and respected in the locker room. And I think you hit it exactly on the head in terms of bringing that physicality and letting his new teammates know like, hey, this is what your head coach expects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ar\u2019Darius Washington: Just a depth piece?<\/p>\n
[This section begins around the 22:30 mark]<\/p>\n
Washington, a safety, is the least known of the former Ravens who are now Giants. He was a backup safety with Baltimore. Can he be more than that?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe definitely could be more than just a depth piece,\u201d Mehta said. \u201cWashington going to New York is no surprise. Harbaugh\u2019s always talked about really liking Washington and the effort and the intensity he brings. I think the thing that they said was it\u2019s not about the size of the dog in the fight, it\u2019s the size of the fight in the dog. And that is describing Ar\u2019Darius Washington to a T.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that he has probably a better chance of carving out a role in New York than he would if he stayed in Baltimore \u2026 Washington has experience lining up in the box for the Ravens. he\u2019ll line up in the slot, he\u2019ll line up as a free safety. And so I think that versatility, the relationship with Harbaugh, and the fact that when he\u2019s on the field, he\u2019s a playmaker and he flies to the ball, if he can stay healthy, I can very much see him carving out a role as like the number six defensive back in their secondary.\u201d<\/p>\n
[NOTE: There is much more to our conversation. Click the player above to listen]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Harbaugh has brought four of his former Baltimore Ravens players to the New York Giants. What does…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[7,519,1917,56,1870,19079,2321,2469,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-823316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-giants","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-giants","12":"tag-new-york-giants-analysis","13":"tag-new-york-giants-podcasts","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkgiants","16":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116262171146240686","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}