The Seattle Seahawks released tight end Noah Fant on Sunday.
Announced by the team before the start of training camp, Fant becomes the second of the three players acquired in the Russell Wilson trade to leave the Seahawks. Drew Lock remains with the team, as do the three players selected with the draft picks included in the trade.
Fant, who has played six seasons in the NFL, amassed 1,400 receiving yards across three seasons with Seattle. He had five total touchdowns in that time, and his 35.7 receiving yards per game in 2024 was his highest during his time as a Seahawk.
The 2023 season was Fant’s most impressive by yards per reception, but he still finished the year with only 414 receiving yards despite starting all 17 games.
Moving on from Fant has opened up cap space for the Seahawks, and creates opportunities for sophomore AJ Barner, rookie Elijah Arroyo and free-agent addition Eric Saubert. Marshall Lang and Nick Kallerup, a pair of undrafted tight ends, are also on the roster as of July 21.
Fantasy Impact
Fant was TE14 in 2020 and 2021 with the Denver Broncos. He never returned to those heights with Seattle, placing TE18 in 2022, TE33 in 2023, and TE29 in 2024.
Fantasy managers are clearly unsure where Seattle is going to go with its tight end targets in 2025. At TE36, Arroyo has the highest ADP of any Seahawks tight end.
Barner only started six games in 2024. He had 30 receptions on 38 targets for 245 yards and notched four touchdowns. A low usage rate (on the field for 46% of offensive snaps) put a hard ceiling on Barner’s fantasy production, so he finished the year as TE32. Even with Fant missing three games and only making nine starts, he still had 48 receptions, with some of those bound to go to Barner.
Arroyo, a second-round pick in this year’s draft, is the developmental priority for the franchise, but there are plenty of targets to be shared between the two. Saubert, who has been a backup for his eight years in the NFL, isn’t going to take many reps away from the first- and second-year players at the position.
Tight ends are going to be important in Seattle’s new-look offense with Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator and Sam Darnold at quarterback. Despite speculation the Seahawks would take a tight end in the first round, they waited until the second half of the second round to select Arroyo.
If Darnold plays as he did for the Minnesota Vikings last year, Barner and Arroyo could both be in the top 25 tight ends for fantasy purposes. Minnesota’s tight ends combined for 117 receptions and 1,127 receiving yards.
Arroyo becomes a fascinating fantasy option after Fant’s release. If he becomes the clear first-choice tight end over Barner, there’s a world where a Kubiak-run offense gets him up to around TE15 with Jake Ferguson and Dallas Goedert.
Published: Jul 21, 2025 09:39 pm