Jville":3nifaz6r said:
Cable speaks of George Fant fixing issues as he encounters them during the game. More evidence, going back to training camp, that he is a quick study.
I read an article on Fant. Basically, they picked him up due to his measurables at a regional combine. The guy is 297 lbs, runs a 4.8 forty and has a 37 " vertical jump. He also has ridiculously long arms.
They figured they would pick him up as a raw guy. They had no tape on him. Get this, 297 lbs here, and he did drills at the combine at: LB, DT, DE, OT, and TE. Really ??
So they get him in camp. We hear the reports: " Fant is surprising people, picking it up, blah blah" and we don't really understand how well this is going as fans. This guy is doing stuff physically they never thought he could pick up. His learning curve is faster than Ifedi's, yet we heard about how physical and smart Germain is. They were going to PS him, but he forced them not to. Think about it: he's never had meaningful reps at LT. EVER.
This guy has a high floor and a higher ceiling. I watched his first rep as a professional in a real game. Against Chandler Jones, a top 5 edge rusher in this league. He mirrored him and drove him right off of the screen. He also drive blocks better than Sowell can dream of on his best day. With a bit more consistency, he's already a better run blocker than Sowell. Sure, he had bad plays. So has Ifedi, a first rounder and Glowinski, who's been in our system and on an NFL roster for a year.
Hawkblogger has a good article on this. He graded Fant out as above average for his 27 snaps. Funny thing is, he also watched Graham blocking on 3 of those plays: 2 of them he knocked guys off their feet and one play he took out 2 guys. He's been really good blocking lately, and that's a good sign for us going forward as well.
Fan will likely be going against Claiborne. He's not really all that quick, but he's powerful. So we'll get to see how strong and how well Fant anchors. I'm actually excited to see him play against above average level NFL pass rushers. It will be great experience and a good litmus test going forward.