4 Seattle Seahawks facing boom or bust seasons in 2023

Seattle Seahawks tight end Noah Fant

Noah Fant is in the walk year of his rookie contract and can sign anywhere he wants to next offseason. There are several different ways Fant could view how he wants to work 2024. Does he want to go to a team that likely would use their tight ends more in the passing game so that his targets go up quite a bit more? Or is he comfortable in the Seahawks system and being on a team that could conceivably be a big winner as soon as 2024?

As faras the amount of targets go, Fant had 93 targets in Denver in 2020 and then 90 in 2021. That number plummeted in 2022, his first season in Seattle, to just 63. That wasn't due to anything Fant did as he was healthy and catching the ball at a 79.4 percent per target rate. He was playing well enough to have a big year if he had gotten more targets.

Fant isn't a bad blocker but his speed for his size and his ability to catch make him an ideal target for a team that likes throwing to its tight ends. Fant, for instance, would be a very good fit for the New England Patriots. And New England has more than enough cap space next offseason to make a run at Fant if they want to.

But if Fant can feast off of opposing defenses that could be focusing more on the Seattle wide receiver trio of Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba and leaving Fant more in single coverage, then the tight end could get closer to 80 targets and 60 catches and 700 yards and 8 touchdowns. But if he has numbers closer to 2022 - again, likely through no fault of his own but just the design of the Seattle offense - then his next contract will be effected and he likely won't want to stay with the Seahawks.