As the only proven receiving threat in the Seattle Seahawks tight end room, Noah Fant will play a crucial role for the team in offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb’s offense.
Fant, who didn’t catch a single touchdown last season and posted a career-worst 414 yards receiving, is fresh off signing a new two-year, $21 million deal that made him the 10th highest-paid tight end in the NFL. Given the cash Seattle’s front office awarded Fant, it’s fair to assume the team viewed his lack of production as a scheme issue.
With Grubb now in the building, Fant told reporters on Friday he believes Seattle’s offensive weapons are being utilized in ways that highlight their strengths, rather than relying on them conforming to the scheme — himself included.
“Honestly, my favorite thing about [the scheme] is everybody being able to get into positions that they’re really good at, being able to do the things that they’re really good at — use their speed, use their change of direction, use all these things,” Fant said. “You can tell that [Grubb] really has really put some thought into where he wants guys to be put at and what positions they’ll succeed in.”
That identification of players’ strengths allows the offense to be more versatile as well, Fant said, which stretches to all ends of the team’s personnel.
“The versatility of our offense is through the roof,” Fant added, “so it’s one of those things that, yeah, it’s great for me, but it’s great for our offense as a whole. So I think that’s going to be really beneficial to us doing well on the field.”
Of the six tight ends currently on Seattle’s 90-man roster, Fant is one of three that were on the team last year. Colby Parkinson and Will Dissly each landed in Los Angeles this offseason — the former with the Rams, the latter with the Chargers — after being up-and-down contributors during their stints in Seattle.
Seattle drafted former Michigan tight end AJ Barner in the fourth round, brought in local University of Washington undrafted free agent Jack Westover, who played under Grubb last season, and signed Pharaoh Brown away from New England in free agency.
Fant is joined by returners Brady Russell and Tyler Mabry. Russell was signed to the Seahawks’ active roster from Philadephia’s practice squad last season and Mabry has been a perennial practice squad player since signing with the team as an undrafted free agent in 2020.
So far, Fant is enjoying the revamped tight end room and the competition between each player in it.
“It’s been great, I think that it’s kind of raised the level of competition in camp,” Fant said. “Everybody is battling and wanting the best for each other. [It’s] kind of a tribute to the Grubb system, guys are able to get open and use their abilities to kind of pop off a little bit … so, it’s cool to see those young guys doing their thing and rooting for them.”
Fant and Brown should be the primary contributors this season because of their proven NFL experience, but there may be room for Seattle’s younger players to work into the offense. At the least, one or two will be special teams contributors.
For Fant in particular, who never had a season without a touchdown reception through all of college and four prior seasons in the NFL, an emphasis on targeting him in the red zone would be an immediate improvement.
The 6-4, 249-pound tight end had an 11-touchdown season in his second season at Iowa in 2017–18 but has never been in an NFL offense that feeds him inside the 20-yard line. Last season at Washington, Grubb’s tight ends combined for eight scores.
