Among the many elements involved in the trade that saw the Seattle Seahawks send Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos were a handful of draft picks, quarterback Drew Lock, defensive lineman Shelby Harris, and tight end Noah Fant. Some of that has worked out for Seattle, but the Fant part didn't. Not really.
On Sunday, Seattle made the long-rumored decision to release Noah Fant, according to the NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. The question isn't why do it at all, but why do it now? Could the team not find a trade partner at any point during the season for the underperforming tight end, even around the time of the 2025 NFL draft?
Letting Fant walk does save the Seahawks a chunk of money. Seattle frees up $8.9 million with the move, but the team wasn't struggling with the salary cap anyway. Seattle still had nearly $29 million to spend, plenty to add another quality edge rusher, such as Jadeveon Clowney. But maybe Seattle is creating cap space for a different reason.
Seattle Seahawks release tight end Noah Fant just days before the start of training camp
The Seahawks also took tight end Elijah Arroyo in the second round of the 2025 draft, which made Noah Fant even more expendable. Yet, still, the veteran stayed on the roster. As new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak uses a lot of two-tight end sets in his scheme, it might have made sense to keep Fant. This was at least logical.
Again, free agency is long done, so there was no obvious need to suddenly free up money by releasing Fant. That's the potentially exciting part.
Perhaps general manager John Schneider is about to make a splash move, such as trading for Cincinnati Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson. The Seahawks had enough money to fit Hendrickson into the salary cap already, but things would have been tight after that.
The #Seahawks have released TE Noah Fant.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 20, 2025
Opening up another $9 million gives Schneider the luxury to fill out the practice squad and have enough to roll over to 2026, if needed.
Making such a trade would not be the first time Schneider has pulled off a splash deal near training camp or just before the season. He has made such moves for left tackle Duane Brown, safety Jamal Adams, and edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney in previous seasons. As Hendrickson is unhappy with his current contract with the Bengals, maybe Cincinnati is shopping him.
As it turns out, Fant, while fast for his size and with good hands, has been one of the more disappointing pieces for the Seahawks from the Russell Wilson trade. The tight end has never had more than 500 yards receiving in a season for Seattle, and he went nearly two years without catching a touchdown pass.
