Isaiah Likely Camp Update — August 23: Back-to-back catches from Dart

Isaiah Likely caught back-to-back passes from Jaxson Dart in 11-on-11 work at Thursday's joint practice with the Dolphins — the second one over the middle for a significant gain — and later added a sideline catch from Dart in the same period, per Matt Citak at the team's site. In a practice where Dart went 17 of 21 by Ed Valentine's charting at Big Blue View, three of those completions finding the tight end is the first countable usage evidence behind the claim ESPN's Jordan Raanan made two weeks ago, that Likely had become the young quarterback's number one target. Small numbers, one practice — but it is usage, not praise, and this file has been waiting for usage.

Saturday offered nothing to add. No Likely line surfaced in the coverage we accessed of the 26 to three win over Miami, a game in which more than a dozen starters sat, Dart among them, per Michael Haney and Patricia Traina at Giants On SI — so the live-game target count that would actually settle this argument remains blank through two preseason weeks. Meanwhile the man whose absence created Likely's summer spotlight took his biggest step yet: Malik Nabers ran his first full-speed team periods Monday, per Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk, and every rep Nabers reclaims comes out of somebody's target pool.

Back in June our preview doubted the breakout on volume grounds — four Baltimore seasons of three to four targets a game, and target volume is the stickiest identity a tight end carries. Camp keeps arguing with that record, and this week the argument came with completions attached rather than adjectives; only regular-season usage can settle it.

Watch next: whether Likely plays in Friday's finale against the Jets and draws targets if he does, and whether the Dart connection survives Nabers' return to full team work. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._