ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Noah Fant’s had a mighty fine start to his NFL career, to say the least.
In his first year in the league, the 20th-overall pick set rookie franchise tight end records for most receiving yards (562) and receptions (40). He followed that up his sophomore season by finishing just outside of the top five in receiving yards (673) and receptions (62).
But Fant wants more.
“I want to get to top five in the league. I want to be competing with [Travis] Kelce and [George] Kittle and [Darren] Waller and all these guys,” the third-year tight end said on Thursday. “That’s always been the goal. That’s always what I’m pushing for.”
In just his second year in the NFL, despite injuries bothering him throughout the season, Fant was just 28 receiving yards away from being in the top five among tight ends. Additionally, he was only 30 yards out from having the fourth-most receiving yards and only 50 yards away from being in the top three.
“The ultimate goal is to be the best in the league, but we’ve got to work to get there,” he stated. “That’s what I’ve been doing.”
That goal, however, has not been in striking distance during Fant’s first two years in the league. Despite 673 receiving yards in 2020, Fant was a whopping 743 yards behind Kelce.
But the 6-foot-4, 249-pound tight end knows exactly what he needs to improve on to make the giant leap to the top.
“Consistency,” he said, pointing to the area of his game he needs to work on the most. “I think that’s the biggest thing. I saw that last year also. If I can play like that consistently and get those catches and make those blocks—all of that consistently throughout the season and do that all year long and be at my highest level of play, the sky’s the limit. Consistency is a big word I’ve been focusing on this year.”
For the most part, Fant was fairly consistent on a weekly basis last year. In fact, he didn’t have a single 100-yard game and only had three games in which he had fewer than 20 yards. His inconsistency was within games.
The first two games of the season were a perfect example.
In the first half of Week 1, Fant exploded onto the scene, hauling in all five of his targets for 81 yards and a touchdown. In the second half, he was completely quiet, not catching a single ball on only one target.
The next week, it was the opposite. Fant wasn’t targeted a single time in the first half, but in the second half had four catches for 57 yards and a touchdown.
In two of the first four halves of the season, Fant didn’t have a single catch. However, in the other two, he combined for 138 yards on 9 catches and two touchdowns. Those numbers over a 16-game season—since last year was only 16 games—would equate to a massive 2,208 receiving yards and would smash every record in the book.
“I’m starting to figure things out, starting to be more knowledgable about the game, starting to kind of get those vet aspects to what I’m doing, so now it’s just consistency,” Fant added. “Consistently being at the top level of play amongst the league because you know, I’m not just competing with myself, I’m competing with every tight end across the league. There’s some good ones, so I’ve got to step up to that level.”
The consistency doesn’t just start and end with Fant, of course. In those other two halves of football in Week 1 and Week 2, Fant only had one total target. For Fant to compete with the top tight ends in the league, not only will he have to improve, but he will have to consistently be targeted. Feed Fant will be the motto for Denver’s tight end to keep up with Kansas City’s tight end.
“I just want to maximize my potential on the field and kind of be that household name that [Von Miller] is for the Broncos,” Fant added about his desire to be great.
In his first two years in the NFL, Fant has unquestionably lived up to expectations. But now he’s setting the bar as high as it goes.
