Why Did The #Seahawks Release TE Noah Fant? – REACTION | #SeattleSports

Why Did The #Seahawks Release TE Noah Fant? – REACTION | #SeattleSports

Seahawks making roster moves. I wasn’t expecting any roster moves for whatever reason right now. Obviously, they’re going to have to trim down, but they did it with a prominent name, Dave. They released Noah Fant, which was uh a bit of a surprise only because I thought, you know, way back when before the draft and we were looking at their salary cap situation and looking at their top salaries. This is back when Gino and DK were here. He was in the top five in terms of his salary. And we were looking at, all right, well, obviously they’re going to be some guys that are going to be, you know, cap casualties. They’re going to be guys that are restructure candidates. And I remember bringing his name up a number of times feeling like they’re going to do something. If they don’t release him, they’re going to restructure. They have to. I mean, he just he was making way too much money, especially relative to his production, which we can debate whether it’s his fault, the offense they were calling. But over three seasons here, he had five touchdowns and,400 yards. I mean, that’s a down year for Kelsey. Yeah. And that’s in three seasons. He just for whatever, they didn’t use him. He wasn’t the guy they wanted. What whatever the disconnect was in three season, he was just not a productive player. And he was making a lot of money by way of comparison in terms of the cap hit. So, the move’s not surprising. I guess just the timing of it when and I’m assuming they probably were trying to trade him and couldn’t find a partner out there and maybe they were waiting till a Royal signed and had some certainty. I don’t know. But it’s timing is what caught me. Yeah. You know, I I have to say I was uh I was surprised and and the reason why is if you look at the number of tight ends that they have now. Um, you know, now you’ve got AJ Barner who I think AJ Barner was a great rookie last year and if he can take his his game up to the next level, I think that would be that would be awesome and I think very valuable to this team. But then, you know, after that, you have Elijah Royo and Eric Sabert. And Sabert is kind of a journeyman. I mean, he he really he’s never really put up big numbers. I mean, he’s been a an awesome piece, but they have a lot of plays that are either 12 personnel, 22 personnel, or 13 personnel, which the second number is the number of tight ends. And so, you know, they ran like 480 snaps with either two tight ends, three tight ends, or two running backs and two tight ends. And this is from John Bole uh put this together, but New Orleans last year with Kubak is the reason I bring that up, of course. um two of the top three receiving yard um you know highest numbers were tight ends, two tight ends and you know so I’m I’m going okay where where are they going to get the rest of it from? Cuz then the other two uh you’ve got Kerup and Lang. saw Marshall Lang and Nick Kellerup and I don’t know if they liked what they saw out of that, but I I just it just seems like with that much multi-tight formations, you’re you’re a little light there as far as, you know, the the depth and and to the point where I think like a guy like Jake Boowbo, this it might be tough for him to make the team. I mean, I it’s it’s going to mean less receivers. So, and they they want to run the ball. And then the other the other problem I have with it is I think AJ Barner is a complete tight end, but Elijah Aoyo, he he’s he’s not a heavy blocker. He really, you know, and look, I haven’t entirely studied his whole career, but I’ve watched him a few times and I don’t think that it it’s a lack of willingness, that’s for sure. I just think he’s not a very good blocker. And then, you know, you got Sabert who is, you know, been around the league and everything that it’s his eighth year. So, I’m I’m just going, okay, maybe they move UTS back to tight end because Robbie UT was drafted to be a fullback and that’s what they have him listed at. But, he did play tight end and he’s a big dude and he can block. So, yeah, I mean, I’m just going where are you going to get that from? The other thing I think with Noah Fant, you know, you look at if you look at his numbers and this is just my perception of what I saw last year and the year before that. Um, you know, it like if you look at Spoon’s numbers, you’re not going to be blown away by that, but he creates some really good moments. And I’m not comparing Fant to Spoon, but there was a lot of times where I was like, man, that was a really good route that he ran or, you know, that was a pretty decent block by him. And I I just I liked him as a player. Did you like him at $9 million? Yeah. I mean, I don’t know. You You’ve got space. They already had cap space before that. Maybe this this is something they need to do. They got a big move coming. Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. And I’m thinking there’s got to be some kind of a corresponding move because, you know, if you look at um you know, the the number of times, like I said, 400 almost 500 snaps are with multi-tight ends. And like I said, that’s going to cut down the receivers that they keep. Yeah. I I And we’ll see if they duplicate that here. Or maybe they they you know there’s a progression to it. Well, okay, this is how we did there based on who we had to work with. This is who we have here. So, this is how we’re going to do it. Yeah. So, I don’t I don’t know. I I I just don’t think, you know, I thought at again at minimum they’d restructure just because he would, you know, relative to his production, he was way making way too much money. Yeah. So, it’s when you look at his numbers though and and I remember when when they brought him over, we talked to Mark Slareth and he’s like, “Yeah, he was he was just so blah about him like, yeah, he’s he’s he’s not great. He’s a guy, you know, he just made him sound like ordinary Joe out there and he was for whatever reason wasn’t that high on him.” And he he he his most productive year was in terms of touchdown. He had four touchdowns his first year. Had none in 23 and played all 17 games. This wasn’t injury. just had no touchdowns. 32 receptions, 414 yards, no touchdowns in 2023. And then last year, he had 48 receptions, 500 yards, one touchdown. I mean, you just weren’t getting much from him, whether it was his fault or the coordinators. Yeah, I don’t know what was happening. I thought Pete did a really good job his last year of having two and three tight end sets. They seem to have uh some success uh with that. But yeah, like I said, I mean, I just what I saw, you know, versus what the numbers are were were two different players. Not to the point where I’m like, “Oh my gosh, this guy can be Travis Kelce.” But, you know, I I I thought that, you know, he was pretty decent. It, you know, and I looked at his stuff in Denver, the run after catch wasn’t great, but I thought he surprised me a couple of times. And then, yeah, if I close my eyes, I can see him running that route across the the back of the end zone. It seems like he caught two or three of those. Um, does it give you confidence based on its brief track record, but we’ve talked about it and celebrated the fact that McDonald makes a move when he sees it’s it’s time to make a move. Yeah. And he gets rid of two linebackers that they acquired at the beginning of that season. I mean, it wasn’t like these are longtime guys who were just there because they’ve been stars and were hanging on to them. They went out and got Baker. They went out and got those guys and then halfway through the season said, “No, this isn’t it.” He’s decisive. He really is. And you know, he was right. Yeah. And so and same Well, we’ll see. But same thing with Grub. I mean, I was pretty surprised by that that they they did that after one year. So So does that give you confidence saying, “All right, this guy’s been really decisive and and he doesn’t wait around when he sees I need to make a change at whether it’s a coach or whether it’s a player.” Yeah. I’ll just be happier when I see what the corresponding move is, you know, and you know what, or maybe they, like I said, maybe they really liked UOTS and they think, okay, we can, you know, have him in as the the third tight end, which they run sometimes. So, um, yeah, it could be that or they have somebody in mind. Um, I like Sabard. I mean, he is one of those guys you have to have on your team. He’s, you know, he can play some special teams, but he’s not, like I said, he’s a journeyman. he was a fifthrounder. Um, and yeah, I mean, he’s he’s played great. And then the other thing is like if you’re going to really run the ball and you want to run it at a 13 personnel or 12 personnel, any formation with two tight ends, Royo’s got a long ways to go, you know, as far as his blocking, right? You know, I mean, he is and he’s a he’s a fantastic uh route runner and he’s just very dynamic. He’s got tons of tools, but I think it’s going to take him a while. And you know, I always talk about how they’re not in pads and so it’s going to be maybe a little bit longer for him to realize, you know, what it takes to block in the NFL.

Hosts Dave Wyman and Bob Stelton share their thoughts on the Seahawks releasing TE Noah Fant and what it means for Seattle’s Tight End room.

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