Noah Fant used to be the hottest thing since short shorts and fried bananas dipped in ice cream. At Iowa aka Tight End University, Fant caught a school-record 11 touchdowns during his sophomore campaign. He was then selected by the Denver Broncos with the 20th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Fant is 6′ 4″, 249 pounds and runs a 4.5 40-yard dash. He’s in the 98th percentile for 40-yard dash, speed, burst and catch radius per PlayerProfiler. The agility score was “only” in the 96th percentile.
But Fant was unable to live up to the hype. During his second and third seasons in the NFL, Fant garnered at least 90 targets but was only able to rack up 60+ receptions, 670 yards and three to four touchdowns.
Denver traded him to Seattle after three seasons and the decline was immediate. The targets went to 63 and he hauled in 50 for 486 yards and four touchdowns. After three seasons in Seattle producing in the same range, Fant was released and then signed a one-year deal with the Bengals.
Fant was buried on the depth chart behind Drew Sample and Mike Gesicki. Despite playing 50%, 25% and 32% of the snaps during the first three weeks, Fant racked up five, four and five targets, leading all tight ends. He ended up with four, three and five receptions for 26, 28 and 26 yards, scoring one. The consistency is quite remarkable.
Fant missed Week 4 due to a concussion and only played 24% of the snaps in Week 5, failing to earn a target. Last week, though, Mike Gesicki was out due to a pectoral injury and Fant received four targets, resulting in four receptions for 27 yards. Consistency!
Tanner Hudson led the way with five targets but he suffered a concussion. Well, Hudson has been ruled out for Thursday while Gesicki was put on injured reserve.
That leaves Drew Sample and Fant as soaking up most, if not all, of the tight end snaps. And Sample is just not a good receiving option, so Fant should see an uptick in targets.
Pittsburgh will likely put up points against a porous Bengals defense while Cincinnati cannot run the ball anyways. That combination should put Joe Flacco in for a high-volume day once again. Last week, he attempted 45 passes.
On the season, Pittsburgh has allowed the fourth-most FPTS to tight ends on average.
