Fant Released

[toffee]

According to PFF:

Fant 2024 Total blocking 151 snaps
Run 128 / Pass 23
He yielded: 4 hurries, no sacks or hits.
Run blk grade - 42.3, Pass blk grade - 34.5

Fant 2023 Total: 228
Run 192 / pass 36
He yielded: 1 sack, 3 hurries
Run blk grade - 59.6, Pass blk grade - 72.1

In 2023, his pass-blocking grade was one of the best among our OL. No, he isn't a good blocker, but he could be a very good pass catcher.

Grupp and his OL coach didn't do good for our offense, that's for sure, got to wonder whose idea to hire Grupp?

 

[flv2]

Fant was an above average player for the Broncos, but he wasn't anything special. I don't blame the Seahawks for taking him in the trade and I don't blame the Broncos for being willing to let him go. I thought the extension was a bit rich. I didn't see anything to justify $12M in 2024 and at $9M for 2025 I thought he'd be gone in March. There wasn't much of a reason to keep him at that price after the Draft. Maybe they were trying to negotiate his price down. Maybe he said no and the Seahawks chose to mess him around for another 7 weeks. Either way releasing him in late July when teams are set doesn't reflect well on the Seahawks. It won't make players more likely to sign non-guaranteed deals with the Seahawks.

The bottom line is the Seahawks haven't broken any rules and Fant wasn't worth the money. meh! Moving on. Good luck to Barner and Arroyo.

 

[glenwo2]

So they release Fant and acquire another CB named Kam :

 

[SoulfishHawk]

This team has a very good history with UDFA's

 

[pittpnthrs]

Fant was always strange to me. I always threw him into the 'couldn't block' category as most do, but the few games I watched and paid attention to him, he seemed to do a servicable job at blocking. Don't get me wrong, I always thought he was over paid and him moving on means nothing to me, but I may have been wrong about his blocking skills.

Also, I see the team picked up a few more players and this might not be the thread for this but i'm wondering if the FO isn't spinning their wheels about trading Lock to the Titans since Levis is out for the season (entirely hypothetical) and picking up somebody to sure up a hole.

 

[kidhawk]

Personally I think of Fant’s issue more that he was forced to be a blocker instead of running routes too often. I’m not as worried about how good or bad he was at blocking. He was serviceable while here but under utilized. I believe now we have TEs that can replace what he gave us at a lower price with an unknown ceiling.

I’m pretty sure the only reason he wasn’t let go sooner was the fact that we had no leverage to get Arroyo to sign if we let Fant walk. Once he signed it became a numbers game.

 

[chrispy]

He could easily be back at a lower number. If not him, probably someone else before too far into camp.

Regardless of Fant's destination: MMac doesn't have a TE that can be both a competent blocker and pass-catcher to be used as a real decoy or to manipulate the D. That's what he wants/needs. We won't land a Mark Andrews, but someone that can throw a few hard blocks early in games and catch some passes in the flats in the first half ... just so the D has to account for their presence. Having 1 good blocking TE and 1 good receiving TE is better than not having them, but doesn't make the D adjust and react. My guess is that there's a concerted effort to find a guy that can be average at both instead of good at one and bad at the other.... The thread about Abe Lucas' speed made me think about kicking him outside.... What happens if we have enough starting caliber OLs that some deception could be used...???

 

[RiverDog]

Denver traded Fant away b/c they knew he wasn't a good player and worth his draft slot. The Hawks needed a TE but realistically one who could block and Fant sucked at blocking and wasn't really that good at pass catching either. Good riddance, thanks for your time here, you did get paid well for doing not very much. C-ya.

Happy to see this player gone, he was always overrated.

The team has a group of tough young players at the TE position all of whom can block, one will rise above the rest, am betting on Barner to be special and Arroyo to be a weapon.

You're speculating as to the reason why Denver traded away Fant.

The Broncos were going to be facing a tough decision with him as to whether or not to pick up his 5th year option, something that we eventually did, marking the first time in our franchise history that we picked up that option. None of our first-round draft picks were deemed worthy of the 5th year. Given the salary limitations Denver was taking on with Russell, it made picking up that option less likely anyway. There was nothing to indicate that Fant's performance was a factor in their decision. He played in 47 of the 48 games.

Fant's inclusion on the trade was obviously a deal sweetener and might have been a player that we asked for, but I don't see anything to indicate that the Broncos were anxious to get rid of him based on his performance.

 

[MORGULON]

Lol top off Buck Nasty's mama's water dish

Exactly

 

[flv2]

...I’m pretty sure the only reason he wasn’t let go sooner was the fact that we had no leverage to get Arroyo to sign if we let Fant walk. Once he signed it became a numbers game.

Arroyo's salary structure was set in stone. He was also going to get at least 3 years fully guaranteed along with a good chunk of the 4th year fully guaranteed. Any negotiation was over about $400k of future guarantees, (and potentially how much of year 4 is guaranteed if Arroyo qualifies for the PPE). I don't really see Fant having a contract impact because Fant wasn't going to be in the plans for 2028.

 

[IndyHawk]

Anything bad, trades, drafts, was Pete Carroll's fault.

It was, Pete had the final say over John until his last season.

 

[kidhawk]

Arroyo's salary structure was set in stone. He was also going to get at least 3 years fully guaranteed along with a good chunk of the 4th year fully guaranteed. Any negotiation was over about $400k of future guarantees, (and potentially how much of year 4 is guaranteed if Arroyo qualifies for the PPE). I don't really see Fant having a contract impact because Fant wasn't going to be in the plans for 2028.

I think we are looking at this differently. I don’t think we kept Fant around thinking he’d play here, but as a player/agent Arroyo and his team had much less leverage towards a full guarantee with Fant here. Had we released him sooner who knows if it delays Arroyo signing or not. I just find the timing of Fants release being less than 24 hours after Arroyo signed to be suspect.

 

[toffee]

I think we are looking at this differently. I don’t think we kept Fant around thinking he’d play here, but as a player/agent Arroyo and his team had much less leverage towards a full guarantee with Fant here. Had we released him sooner who knows if it delays Arroyo signing or not. I just find the timing of Fants release being less than 24 hours after Arroyo signed to be suspect.

I think you read Schneider accurately.

 

[Sperrydogg]

IMHO the fact that no TE ever sustainably flashed, in the Carroll/ Schneider era, is a direct consequence of the garbage offensive lines that we fielded.

Too often we needed the tight end to provide extra protection, an extra lineman of sorts, instead of playing to his receiving potential.

We had some receiving dogs, but those skills weren’t fully utilized by this team.

Hopefully that changes under MM/ Schneider.

Will dissley looked good for a minute

 

[Donn2390]

Never healthy? He played in 48 out of 51 games while he was here.

Pete Carroll reach? Ridiculous. He was part of the fleecing we did to Denver with the Wilson trade. Everything we got over and above the draft picks was purely gravy.

Some folks in here will never pass up an opportunity to stick a knife in Pete's back...

 

[flv2]

I think we are looking at this differently. I don’t think we kept Fant around thinking he’d play here, but as a player/agent Arroyo and his team had much less leverage towards a full guarantee with Fant here. Had we released him sooner who knows if it delays Arroyo signing or not. I just find the timing of Fants release being less than 24 hours after Arroyo signed to be suspect.

That's fair enough. A difference of opinion is fine. From my perspective salaries are set automatically. Agents want terms and guarantees for their clients that are in line with Draft picks selected either side of them in the Draft. I don't think it much matters who is on the roster, especially for year 4 when those other players will probably have moved on.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Yep. IMO the best all-around tight end ever to wear the blue and green. Fantastic blocker, great hands, was a security blanket for a young Russell Wilson. Too bad he couldn't stay healthy.

And on the flip side of the tight end coin, there was Jimmy Graham, arguably the most out of place acquisition we made during Pete's tenue.

Jimmy Graham probably would have been a hall of famer if he had stayed in New Orleans. Was a terrible fit in Seattle though and that injury he got was brutal. Trading max unger as part of the deal basically ended our championship window. I remember guys like Bruce Irvin calling Graham soft when we played the saints in the play offs...then we traded for him.

 

[Jegpeg]

I’m pretty sure the only reason he wasn’t let go sooner was the fact that we had no leverage to get Arroyo to sign if we let Fant walk. Once he signed it became a numbers game.

I think it is a bit more complex than that.
I don't know if Fant was being used as leverage on Arroyo but there were other reasons that now in the time to let him go.

Training camp is about to start, if Fant was in the squad he would be taking snaps from Arroyo and Barnier. On top of this releasing him now allows Fant to have a full training camp with a new team. Players are more likely to want to play for a team that looks after their interests in ways like this.

They would have been looking for trade options and it must have been clear noone would trade for him. They could have kept him in the hope that another team approach us following an injury but that needs to be balanced against the benefits of trading him now outlined in the previous paragraph.

 

[Mad Dog]

We do have two UDFA TEs as well who we have had time to look at so there are 5 in the room with Fant gone.

3 rookies, 1 JAG and a second year player do not install a lot of confidence in the room. But I think our OC and HC would prefer a 2 TE/1FB mix rather than a 3 TE room.

 

[bileever]

I agree with those who think that something must be brewing, and that releasing Fant has something to do with clearing cap space.

Fant is not a bad player. He's no superstar, but he wasn't being paid like one either. I think it would have been defensible to bring him back at that number, but not ideal. Hoping for the best with Arroyo, but I think we could still use a solid vet at that position.