NFL commentator pours cold water on one of Seahawks biggest free agent signings

This offseason, Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider was back to his old ways of doing things. Well, at the year before last way. In 2023 free agency, Seattle was unexpectedly aggressive in signing defensive lineman Dre'Mont Jones, among others. Jones was and still is the most expensive free agent Schneider has signed from another team.

This offseason, though, Schneider chose to not chase higher-priced free agents and instead brought in players who should be a good fit in new head coach Mike Macdonald's system and had decent years in 2023. This includes players such as linebackers Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker. Seattle likely hopes those players work out better than Dre'Mont Jones did in 2023.

Jones certainly did not live up to how much Seattle was paying him with just 4.5 sacks and ranking lowly among defensive linemen, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Still, Jones could easily have the best season of his career in 2024 playing under Macdonald and Jones could prove the price Seattle paid for him to be a smart one. That's the hope.

Seattle Seahawks need more from Noah Fant moving forward

Another hope is that tight end Noah Fant will finally get the quality targets he deserves. At the beginning of his career. Fant got as many as 90 targets with the Denver Broncos, but many of those were shorter routes and dump-offs in a terrible offensive system. After coming over as part of the trade that sent Russell Wilson to Denver, Fant has seen even fewer targets, though. He only saw 43 targets in 2023.

Was the issue former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron preferring to get the ball more to his wideouts instead of using Fant in any meaningful way? Or is Fant a fast receiver at 6'4" and 250 pounds but one who seemingly can't create separation for his quarterbacks? We should get answers to those questions since the Seahawks have new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb who appears more likely to use all of the weapons at his disposal.

Seattle re-signed Fant this offseason, even though he did not have a touchdown reception this past season and just 32 catches. The deal pays the tight end for two years and a maximum of $21.5 million. That's a lot of money for a player who has not yet been overly productive, though John Schneider obviously believes Fant's number will rise in 2024.

Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon, though, believes Fant is not the most overpaid player on Seattle's roster. Gagnon writes that "we have to see it to believe it" as far as Fant becoming a much more important part of Seattle's offense. He followed that comment with this ouch: "For now, he's a guy with a total of 900 yards and four touchdowns the last two seasons (zero in 2023) who is making $10.5 million per year."

To be fair, Gagnon is not wrong, but 12s likely hope that Gagnon is extremely incorrect by the end of 2024. For the Seahawks to reach maximum efficiency offensively, Fant needs to see his numbers nearly double from 2023.

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