Less than a week after being released by the Seahawks, tight end Noah Fant is already receiving interest from multiple teams, according to FOX Sports’ Jordan Schultz.
Fant is visiting Cincinnati today, per Schultz, giving the Bengals the first crack at signing the former first-rounder.
Originally selected with the No. 20 pick in 2019, Fant is considered somewhat of a disappointment relative to his draft billing. He has still been a solid receiving tight end across his six-year career, but his blocking has left much to be desired. He ranked eighth among tight ends with 1,905 receiving yards over his first three seasons before he was sent to the Seahawks as part of the Russell Wilson trade in 2022. In his three years in Seattle, Fant fell to 21st among tight ends with just 1,400 receiving yards.
The Bengals, meanwhile, finally found a productive tight end last year in Mike Gesicki, who caught 65 passes for 665 yards. (Prior to that, no Bengals tight end had reached 55 receptions or 500 receiving yards in a season in the Joe Burrow era.) Gesicki was retained this offseason on a three-year, $25.5MM deal, solidifying him as the team’s starter, certainly for 2025 and likely for 2026 as well. 2019 second-rounder Drew Sample only has one season above 200 receiving yards, but he actually led the Bengals’ tight end room in 2024 with 655 starts (57.61% snap share) to Gesicki’s 523 (46% snap share). 2024 fourth-rounder Erick All is out for the year with a torn ACL, so the TE3 role currently belongs to Tanner Hudson, a reliable, inexpensive player who offers little upside.
Fant certainly offers more receiving prowess than Hudson, but it’s hard to imagine him eating into Gesicki’s role as a receiver, often in the slot, or Sample’s as an inline blocker. The Bengals will likely need to sell Fant on an appealing role (and/or contract) to get him to agree to terms before leaving Cincinnati. With other interested teams, however, Fant may look for a more clear-cut TE2 role elsewhere.