CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Bengals had yet to announce the signing of tight end Noah Fant when head coach Zac Taylor sat down for his news conference before the start of Thursday’s practice.
Taylor at first didn’t want to go into specifics about Fant because he said he didn’t know what was official and what wasn’t.
“We potentially got a good addition there,” he said.
But a few minutes later, Taylor gave a more detailed explanation of what Fant, a first-round pick of the Broncos in 2019, can bring to the offense.
And it wasn’t coincidental that Taylor’s assessment of Fant came after a question about Erick All, the team’s 2024 fourth-round pick who is expected to miss all of 2025 due to surgery complications, and how he made Taylor look at his offensive approach differently.
All brought a new dimension to the Cincinnati offense that transformed what had been one of the league’s most reliant teams on 11 personnel into a much more balanced approach with more 12 personnel.
While Fant is most valuable as a receiver who gets a lot of yards after the catch, the Bengals are hoping he can slide into the balanced role All was giving them for the first half of last season.
“He gives you even more flexibility,” Taylor said in reference to Fant. “You've got a player that's really a plus player in the run and the pass, so at the point of attack blocking, backside blocking and protection, he can help you.
“But also, really explosive as a receiver,” Taylor continued. “Great size, great explosiveness, great hands, tough to bring down. That's just another weapon. Erick All did that for us last year as well.”
As Taylor pointed out, 11 and 12 personnel are broad terms when it comes to the Bengals because Mike Gesicki is so often employed as a slot receiver even though he’s technically a tight end.
“We have a lot of different ways we can deploy our tight ends and different combinations that try to generate different defenses and then try to attack however they decide to play us,” Taylor said. “Mike can get a lot of matchups that he can really take advantage of. Rolling two tight ends out there doesn't always mean that we're gonna get base defense.”
Fant has 300 career receptions for 3,305 yards and 15 touchdowns in three seasons with the Broncos and three with the Seahawks.
He was the No. 2 tight end selected in the 2019 draft as the No. 20 pick.
Drew Sample was the fourth tight end selected at No. 52.
Sample said he’s looking forward to Fant’s arrival, which was expected to be this afternoon.
“Each (tight end) brings something different, so obviously with Erick being out, we have a lot of different styles, and everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses,” Sample said. “I feel like he'll be able to come in and add his strengths and we'll have a really well-rounded room.”
Fant has played in 95 of a possible 100 games, with three of the five he missed occurring last year due to a groin injury.
And he’s been consistent as a receiver as well. He's not an explosive YAC guy, but he's consistently going to add a few yards after contact, and if he catches a pass short of the sticks, he's going to drag a defender or two for the first down.
And with the Bengals offense operates, with Joe Burrow's quick processing and getting the ball out fast, sometimes short of the marker whe he counting on the receiver to make someone miss or take them for a ride, Fant can have a big impact.
His blocking, however, has been up and down.
Per ProFootballFocus, Fant ranked 81st out of 86 eligible tight ends in pass blocking last year and 80th in run blocking.
But in 2023, he ranked 26th in pass blocking and 25th in run blocking.
The groin injury was something Fant played through last year, so the Bengals are hoping to get more of the 2023 version.
What also makes the signing notable is the Bengals usually wait until cutdown wire to pluck castoffs off the waiver wire. Targeting a player who can have an impact and signing him this early in camp speaks to the urgency there is in adding to that position.
Also, Fant had other options, having visited New Orleans and Miami as well. And you don't often see the Bengals engage in a bidding war.
While it's unclear what the Dolphins and Saints were willing to pay, Fant landing in Cincinnati is a significant step one week into training camp.
The Bengals waived undrafted rookie tight end Kole Taylor to clear room for Fant on the roster. But Tanner Hudson's role could be in jeopardy, or at least reduced, as well.
