Noah Fant attended Omaha South High School in Nebraska where he was a two-sport athlete playing both basketball and football. He committed to the Iowa Buckeyes in 2015 to play tight end in 2015. After playing only in only six games his freshman season, Fant scored 11 touchdowns in 2017 and averaged 16.5 yards per reception two college stats that led the nation among tight ends. While he was unable to replicate his nation leading production in 2018, Fant still hauled in 519 yards and seven touchdowns for the Buckeyes while sharing snaps at tight end with future top ten pick, T.J. Hockenson.
After the 2018 season Noah Fant declared for the NFL draft. He was invited to the NFL Combine where he ran a 4.5 40 time. Fant displayed massive wingspan as evidenced by a 10.47, 99th-percentile catch radius with a hand size of 9 ¾ inches. He tested as one of the most athletic tight ends at the combine posting a 95th-percentile 128.8 SPARQ-x score. Fant was drafted by the Denver Broncos with the 20th pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft.
In his rookie season Fant played on over 71-percent of the Broncos snaps and finished the season 13th among qualified tight ends with 303 routes run. Fant’s involvement in the Broncos passing game has continued to increase throughout his time with the team seeing a career high 18.3-percent target share (no. 10) in 2021 and with a 79.7-percent route participation (no. 8). He has seen seven deep ball targets in every season thus far and saw 2.52 yards of target separation which was tops among all qualified tight ends in 2021.
Noah Fant has established a low-end fantasy TE1 floor through his first few years in the NFL. He has the flashed his elite athletic upside on the field however he has yet to have that translate to an elite fantasy season at the tight end position. Time will tell if he is ever able to make that jump. It will be harder to make that jump in his new digs. After being included in the Russell Wilson trade and shipped to the Seattle Seahawks along with Drew Lock, Fant will be locked into another run-first option but also compete with star receivers DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett for the few available targets. Fant has all the gifts of a superstar at the tight end position, but is sadly looking like a fade heading into the 2022 season.
