4 Seattle Seahawks players who cannot afford to get complacent in 2023

Seahawks tight end Noah Fant

Noah Fant started his career with the Denver Broncos in a poor offense that couldn't get the best out of any of its players (that probably would have been true had he stayed with Denver in 2022 as well) and came to the Seahawks last year and was part of an offense that likes to focus more on its gifted wide receivers than give a lot of targets to its tight ends. In fact, Fant's targets went down by 27 after joining Seattle last year.

Seattle picked up Fant's fifth-year option for 2023 last offseason so he will get paid $6.85 million this season. That's not a ton of money for a productive tight end, but Fant hasn't truly been productive in his career so far. It's not really his fault, either, as he simply hasn't been a great fit for either offensive system he's been in. But that could change this year.

With Seattle drafting Smith-Njigba, there might be less attention on Fant. Opposing teams will have to worry about covering Metcalf, Lockett, and Smith-Njigba and that could leave a lot of room over the middle of the field for Fant to operate. Last season, Fant caught 79.4 percent of his targets for 486 yards and 4 touchdowns. He could get a lot closer to 10 touchdowns with so much attention paid to others.

But how much do the Seahawks really want to pay a tight end? They surprisingly gave Will Dissly a three year extension last offseason, but it was surprising because of how much money it was and how much of it was guaranteed for 2023, which is $5.64 million. Next season Dissly has zero dollars guaranteed, however, and would be $3.1 million in dead cap if he doesn't come back for 2024.

I bring this up because the battle for 2024 money at tight end could play out between Fant and Dissly in 2023. If Fant has a great year as a receiver, Seattle should want to bring him back. If he doesn't, Dissly is going to remain on the roster past this season.