Broncos Film Room: Noah Fant and the modern day tight end

A few weeks ago on Broncos Film Room, we went back to 2017 and put Stefon Diggs under the microscope with the goal of learning how Jerry Jeudy fits in Pat Shurmur’s offense.

This week we turn our eyes to the Meadowlands to follow Shurmur and Evan Engram from 2018-2019 to project Noah Fant’s future outlook and utility in Denver’s new scheme.

Fant and Engram showed a prototypical skill set during their respective pre-draft processes. Both were drafted in the first round and had some of the best rookie seasons at the position throughout the 2010s.

The NFL has always been a league about athleticism and speed, these tight ends fit that bill in abundance.

Not only can they fill the role of a traditional tight end by being an underneath pass catcher and playing a crucial role as a blocker, but both can stretch the field and create big plays.

While the current debate for the NFL’s best tight end is between Travis Kelce and George Kittle, there’s a healthy crop of young players like Engram and Fant that could soon join that conversation.

Big Play Threats

When comparing Jerry Jeudy and his role in Pat Shurmur’s offense to Stefon Diggs, I mentioned Shurmur’s use of crossing routes to get his receivers open. Engram was no exception to that strategy. 

Shurmur dialed up this play-action play to open up the second half against Tampa Bay in 2019. Tampa bay is playing Cover 3 which is susceptible to crossing routes but no one even attempts to pick up Engram. Daniel Jones delivers an accurate ball and Engram speeds 75-yards into the end zone.

Before this play, the Giants were trailing 28-10. On the Giants’ ensuing drive, Shurmur continued to use Engram’s big-play ability but this time to Darius Slayton’s advantage

On this play, the Giants are in a 1 by 2 set with two tight ends to the boundary. Engram is the last man on the line of scrimmage and runs the same crossing route he took 75 yards to the house. Look at the effect Engram has on the defense on this play. He catches the attention of not only the boundary corner and underneath safety, but the safety in the middle of the field creeps up just enough to allow Slayton to break open over the top.

As a rookie, Noah Fant showed the same ability to create big plays after the catch.

While the play may look different, it’s essentially causing the same conflict the Giants forced on the Buccaneers. Play-action with a big athletic tight end crossing the field.

While he doesn’t score on this play, Fant is able to break a tackle and turn a three-yard route into a gain of 23 on 3rd-and-six.

Shurmur has proved he can be a savvy play-caller when he has pieces to work with. Both of those big gains against the Buccaneers came on 1st-and-1o. Shurmur is not one to sit back and let the game come to him, he is going to win or lose on his own terms. While Fant may only be entering year two, there’s no doubt Shurmur understands Fant’s big-play ability and will put it to use often.

Impacting the Run Game

The big plays in the passing game might make highlight tapes, but blocking is where tight ends truly prove their worth. Having a player that can situationally act as a sixth offensive lineman and open holes in the run game is priceless.

The Giants are running inside zone to the left. Saquon Barkley does a great job of attacking the line of scrimmage while remaining patient to let his blocks develop. Engram gets some help from Nate Solder, but he along with Cody Latimer set the crucial blocks to set Barkley loose for a massive gain of 59 yards.

Engram has a tough job on this play. He needs to arc release around the defensive end and keep his shoulders square while continuing to work upfield to secure a block on the defensive back. Engram does his job with some added nastiness by pancaking the defensive back.

Fant didn’t seem to get near as much credit as his Iowa teammate T.J. Hockenson did when it comes to blocking. However, Fant proved at Iowa and later on with the Broncos that he was no slouch when it comes to being physical.

The Broncos are running split zone to the boundary, Lindsay does an excellent job of navigating the flow of the defense and cuts back towards Fant after taking the handoff. DaeSean Hamilton has a great kick out block, but Fant does an excellent job of sealing off Myles Garrett to open up a huge hole springing Lindsay for a gain of 40 yards.

This time, Fant acts as the lead blocker for Lindsay on this outside run. It’s not a big block, but Fant does just enough to get in the way of Daniel Sorensen to allow Lindsay to gain the edge.

Forecasting Fant’s Future

As I mentioned in the Jerry Jeudy film room, the Broncos are getting a great play-designer and play-caller in Pat Shurmur. He does a great job of playing up his player’s strengths and putting them in a position to succeed.

The Broncos 2019 offensive coordinator, Rich Scangarello, was dealt a tough hand in terms of the talent the Broncos had last year. Where Scangarello failed was his conservative nature while also being too cute at times.

Remember this play? This was the first play from scrimmage for the Broncos in 2019. I applaud the creative nature of this play but this is not a play to open the game with. Maybe this play would have had a chance if Scangarello tried setting up Fant on the jet motion but he just went right ahead with the end around.

I’ll spare you the other two times Scangarello tried this exact same thing with Fant against the Vikings. Both plays in that game went for negative yardage.

It is highly doubtful you’ll see Shurmur make the same mistakes.

While this play may look fancy, it’s just simple deception and a great design from Shurmur. The back motioning over to the field side really stresses the defense by turning the formation into 1 by 4 with Engram alone to the boundary. The defense respects the motion and the pump fake and the screen action to the field moves the entire defense. If Eli is able to deliver a more accurate ball, Engram could still be running on this play.

Expect to see Fant featured in screens like this for 2020.

Shurmur also did a great job at using Engram to stretch the field near the hashes while Scangarello rarely used Fant this way.

Engram is lined up in the slot to the field on the line of scrimmage. Dallas is playing Tampa 2 and Engram’s seam route not only takes Jaylon Smith, the middle of the field defender, upfield but he also draws the attention of the field side safety. Eli rushes through his progression and misses Odell Beckham Jr. breaking wide open into the end zone.

The term “stretching the field” has undergone an evolution of itself due to players like Fant and Engram. Before it was conventionally thought that your fastest wide receiver is your deep threat and everything runs off of that player. Now that these extremely athletic tight ends are entering the league, it’s changing how offenses are able to attack the field. You could even take Andy Reid and his use of Kareem Hunt in 2017 as an example. Reid and the Chiefs offense are fun to watch for a multitude of reasons including Reid’s creativity when attacking defenses over the top and up the seam.

There were obvious growing pains throughout Fant’s rookie season and he has a long way to go before he reaches Evan Engram’s tier, but there is reason to think that Fant has yet to scratch the surface. Rookies have a learning curve at every position in the NFL but tight ends can face an even more difficult learning curve when you factor in the size and strength difference between NFL and college players. Despite all that, Fant at least showed us that he belonged on the field and that he has the traits to develop into a potentially special player. Simply put, Noah Fant has the ability to make the Broncos offense more dynamic and has earned opportunities to be schemed around in 2020.

You can already see how this can come together beautifully for the Broncos. With Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, K.J. Hamler and Noah Fant there are infinite ways the Broncos can stretch the field and stress defenses in 2020.

The hardest part of getting better in the NFL is finding the right players and coaches to complement and highlight each other’s strengths.

The Broncos have the talent and now, hopefully, have the coaches to get all the pieces working together in rhythm and harmony.