

The Facts: As part of the trade that brought Russell Wilson to the Broncos, Fant now heads to Seattle. He told 104.3 The Fan in Denver this week that he became frustrated with how he was used in Pat Shurmur's offense with the Broncos. In Fant's view, he's a field-stretching weapon but was primarily utilized as an outlet with run-after-catch ability. "I feel like when I came into the league, that's what I was drafted to do, right?" he said. "Get down the field, make those explosive plays, and kind of be that pass catching tight end. And over my time in Denver, I felt like that narrative kind of got muddled down a little bit. It was more of a focus of me catching flat balls or whatever it may be, and then trying to be a shifty guy and elusive guy and try to break as many tackles possible to get my yards. I view myself as a downfield threat, getting open space, then I can make things happen. It was a little frustrating being used in the short field."
Diehards Line:During his time in the Mile High City, Fant never breached the 700-yard mark. Moreover, his yards per reception steadily declined during his three seasons. After averaging 14.1 yards per catch on 40 receptions as a rookie, that figure dipped to 10.9 on 62 catches in 2020 and 9.9 on 68 in 2021. Fant now heads to Seattle, where the QB situation remains unsettled. Former Denver teammate Drew Lock remains the leader for the starting job, but that could change in the coming weeks. After the Broncos failed to use Fant as a field-stretching weapon, we'll see if things change with his move to Seattle. The Seahawks haven't had a tight end average more than 11 yards per catch since Jimmy Graham in 2016 (14.2) with Wilson under center. Now that they have a new quarterback, will the offense's use of the TE drastically change in Pete Carroll's new vision?