Noah Fant - 2019 NFL Draft Scouting Report

With the Chicago Bears eliminated a couple weeks ago, it is officially NFL Draft season. Since the Bears (smartly) don't have any of their picks for this draft, I'm not sure how interested I will be in the top names, and ultimately, this quarterback class isn't all that inspiring at first glance either, so for right now, I only know that I am going to focus on one thing: The Iowa Hawkeyes. I am starting with the guy that seems to be the consensus top guy coming out of Iowa this year, Tight End, although not the Tight End that won the Mackey Award, Noah Fant. I checked out his games against Penn State in 2018, and then his 2017 games against Ohio State and Iowa State.

I should start that even though there was the dig about the Mackey Award, I do not blame Fant for that as Iowa GREATLY underutilized Fant this season. They called him a specialist, but his specialty is being a large super athletic target for the quarterback who is also at least good enough at blocking in the run game.

Check out the way he clears out the linebacker on this run play. He does have some misses in blocking, but I do think he is at least average and just gets underrated due to how good of a blocker Hockenson is, because it is nearly impossible to separate the two.

Is Noah Fant athletic?

Yes, Noah Fant is athletic. He not only blows by the safety because of a bad angle, he was only building distance as he got further down field. Also, watching 2017 film reminded me that Nate Stanley could not complete a deep ball to save his life that year.

If Stanley waits another beat and keeps his eyes open, Fant is wide open down the middle of the field for an easy touchdown here.

The key is that Fant accelerates so quickly that linebackers are going to have absolute hell trying to keep up with him, especially on a double move.

In fact, it is not going to be easy for anybody to keep up with Fant if he has the chance to accelerate in the open field.

Check out the acceleration as he crosses the field. First, he outruns a safety who tries to dive at his feet, and then he EASILY gets the corner on a linebacker who is also in pursuit.

One thing that didn't show up in the games I watched but was something that was a concern of mine were easy drops from Fant. Matt Waldman does a great job of breaking it down in this video.

I do think some of his technique needs to be refined to make more consistent catches, but at the same time, the guy made some pretty impressive catches as well.

Still, the most frustrating part of watching Iowa this season was not how few times they threw to Fant, but how few times they even looked his way. It is a massive coaching blunder to not design more plays for their most dangerous weapon.

I always supported Noah Fant, but seeing how effective Hockenson was in comparison to Fant did make me lose sight of how good he really was when Iowa actually targeted him. Basically all of their best performances coincided with Fant actually getting thrown the ball. He's really freaking good. Also, everybody is expecting him to blow up the combine with ridiculous athletic testing scores.

There are two names that come to mind when looking at Fant. The first is arguably the best tight end in football, Travis Kelce. Fant does have that kind of upside. At the same time, the name that really clicks with me is Eric Ebron. The fun thing about that comparison is I don't know if it's a compliment or not. If you ask Lions fans, it's a horrific diss, because drops and inconsistency marred his time with them despite his incredible athletic gifts. But if you ask Colts fan, he's a top-five tight end who can stress defenses down the middle of the field. I think the latter is a very likely outcome for Fant, but his raw talent gives him a chance to be the best tight end in football.