Giants' John Harbaugh Sends Strong Jaxson Dart Message With Huge Move

The New York Giants entered the NFL offseason knowing they needed to get some more weapons for Jaxson Dart, and while the Giants can definitely address that need in the draft, they decided to get a head start in free agency.

New York agreed to sign tight end Isaiah Likely to a three-year, $40 million contract on Monday, a move that many saw coming after John Harbaugh took the Giants' head-coaching position.

Of course, Likely spent the first four years of his NFL career playing for Harbaugh in Baltimore, so it's only natural Harbaugh would want to bring some of his former players to his next stop.

But Harbaugh made one thing clear with the Likely addition: he is prepared to pull out all of the stops for Dart, who showed tremendous potential during his rookie campaign.

Remember: Dart utilized his tight ends quite a bit in 2025, finding Theo Johnson and Daniel Bellinger quite often. That surely had something to do with Malik Nabers' injury and the Giants lacking weapons otherwise, but Dart definitely became accustomed to throwing the ball to his bigger-bodied playmakers.

Likely is actually more of a large wide receiver. He stands 6-foot-4, weighs 245 pounds and possesses phenomenal athleticism. We didn't really get to see him reach his full potential with the Ravens thanks to the presence of Mark Andrews, but there is no question he will become the No. 1 tight end in New York.

You can line Likely up in the slot and on the outside, and you should fully expect Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy to employ a whole lot of two tight end sets involving Likely and Johnson in 2026.

This is huge for Dart, who now has a pair of security blankets on those short and intermediate routes (well, when Johnson actually catches the ball, that is). Additionally, Likely will provide Dart with another much-needed vertical threat.

Don't get it twisted: the Giants still need to find a wide receiver, but the acquisition of Likely provides Dart with an incredibly versatile weapon who could compensate for a lack of receiver depth. Hopefully, Big Blue doesn't face that issue, but it's comforting knowing that Likely is aboard.

A big reason why Harbaugh took the Giants job was because of Dart, and it seems very obvious that Harbaugh is envisioning big things for the young signal-caller in his sophomore campaign and beyond.

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