The New Orleans Saints signed tight end Noah Fant to a two-year deal and he'll now join Juwan Johnson at the position for the 2026 season. While Saints fans might be intrigued by the signing, Cincinnati Bengals fans appear to be relieved that Fant is moving on from their team.
Matt Fitzgerald of Stripe Hype, FanSided's Bengals site, seemed overjoyed at the thought of Fant not playing for the Bengals past 2025. His blurb on Fant ahead of free agency is a big, fat warning to whichever team signed Fant, which in this case, is the Saints.
"The Broncos 2019 first-round pick fled Seattle just before the Seahawks’ Super Bowl LX run. Tough timing for Noah Fant, and frankly, for the Bengals as well. Fant lost three fumbles during the 2025 season; all of them were returned for touchdowns. For that reason alone, he has no business being back in Cincinnati. As Mike Singletary once famously said, “Cannot play with him. Cannot win with him. Cannot coach with him. Can’t do it. I want winners.” And winners don’t offset the three touchdown catches they account for in a season by gift-wrapping just as many TDs to opponents. Take that comically dreadful luck elsewhere, Noah! Good riddance!"
Yikes! This isn't great for Saints fans to read, as initially, the signing seemed like a decent one. Pairing Fant with Johnson in the tight end room appeared to be a nice one-two punch for Tyler Shough entering his second season, but clearly, Fant had trouble hanging onto the football last year when he was a Bengal.
Bengals expert reveals truth Saints fans must know about Noah Fant
As Fitzgerald mentioned, Fant was a first-round pick in 2019 by the Broncos and was part of the trade package that sent Russell Wilson to Denver and Fant along with Drew Lock and some draft picks back to Seattle. Fant's stock has plummeted in recent seasons and he struggled in Cincinnati with those three fumbles being a clear red flag on his time there.
The hope for Saints fans is that Fant can take better care of the football in New Orleans and be a nice option for Shough to throw to. The fumbles are definitely concerning but there's potential with Fant. He won't be tasked with being TE1 in New Orleans so maybe that'll take some pressure off of him as he joins his third team in as many seasons.
Fingers crossed those fumbling issues don't follow Fant to the Big Easy. Otherwise, this signing could be looked at as a giant mistake down the road.