When you have the greatest in franchise history as your starter, it’s hard pivoting to the younger player who may be greater.
One of my favorite stories in the history of football is the Bedlam Series of 1987. The Oklahoma State Cowboys are facing the Oklahoma Sooners.
“It was my senior year. We were getting ready to play the University of Oklahoma,” Cowboys running back Thurman Thomas said in an interview on A Football Life: Barry Sanders. “And Barry Switzer, who is the head coach at the University of Oklahoma said, ‘Whatever you do: Don’t. Hurt. Thurman.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’”
“They all looked at me like I was crazy,” Switzer said. “And I said, ‘You don’t want to play against this freshman back that they have named Barry Sanders.’ Well, they’d never heard of Barry Sanders. And I said, ‘We have a tough enough time with Thurman, but you won’t even touch this kid.’”
Thomas finished his college career with 4,596 rushing yards, 551 receiving yards and 43 total touchdowns. He would go on to become a Hall of Fame running back, collecting 12,074 rushing yards, 88 total touchdowns, five Pro Bowls, two First-Team All-Pros and win the 1991 MVP.
Yet, the backup was greater. Sanders proved it the next season with the Cowboys, rushing for 2,628 yards and 37 touchdowns in an 11-game season. At the NFL level, he rushed for 15,269 yards and 99 touchdowns, earned 10 Pro Bowls, five First-Team All-Pros and the 1997 MVP.
Which brings us to the potential problem in the Baltimore Ravens’ tight end room.
The Ravens have one of the NFL’s best tight ends in Mark Andrews. He’s second in receiving yards in franchise history with 5,530 yards, 248 yards from breaking the record. He holds the franchise record for most touchdowns and receiving touchdowns. A three-time Pro Bowler and one-time First-Team All-Pro. And yet, there’s a possibility their second tight end, Isaiah Likely, could be better.
Is this on par with Thomas/Sanders? No. But the similarities are there. Andrews is undeniably a dominant player. And yet, there’s potential for Likely to be greater.
This offseason, there was potential of the Ravens trading Andrews. During the NFL Owners Meetings, Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta was non-committal about retaining Andrews.
“I never know what’s going to happen,” DeCosta said. “I never want to say this or that. But I can tell you this: Mark Andrews is a warrior and he’s played his butt off for us and his competitiveness and his talent, his attitude, his leadership is so valued here and he’s a great player. And I think we’re in the business of keeping as many great players as we can. So, there’s always a lot of unpredictability with the draft. You just never know.”
The issue was a combination of Andrews’ sizable cap hit of $16.9 million and having two quality backups in Likely and Charlie Kolar. Ultimately, the Ravens retained Andrews and now all three are heading into their contract year.
Like Andrews, Likely is a challenging player to defend. First-round safety Malaki Starks named Likely the toughest player he’s had to defend thus far.
“Isaiah, I had a rep against Isaiah the other day, and he is a lot quicker than what he looks on TV and in person,” Starks said.
A benefit for the Ravens is they have both. and unlike running backs, you can include more than one tight end on the field as threats. It’s on the Ravens coaching staff and quarterback Lamar Jackson to utilize both marquee players.