The New Orleans Saints made one move after another on Monday. One of the latter moves made on the first day of legal tampering with a deal with a tight end they've been wanting for a while, Noah Fant.
Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Fant will be a two-year deal. Fant comes over to the Saints via the Cincinatti Bengals. He's the fourth player of the day to agree to terms with the Saints, and he continues an obvious trend. Each of those agreements made has been geared towards bolstering the offense.
It's also one that's not necessarily that surprising. The two have had a mutual interest for at least a year now, with current tight end Juwan Johnson comparing himself and Fant to a past dynamic duo. "He can add a lot of explosions to the offense, and I'd be extremely excited to have him here," Johnson said during training camp last year. "I'm not going to go the whole Gronk and Aaron Hernandez thing... but that's the kind of potential somebody like him can have."
Noah Fant opens up the door the Saints' offense to add a new wrinkle
Well now Juwan Johnson and the Saints won't have to think in hypotheticals anymore, with Noah Fant agreeing to a deal with the Black and Gold. Moreover, Fant really can give Kellen Moore's offense just a little more spice.
With the signing, the door for more 12-personnel usage is now wide open. A term for when there is one running back and two tight ends on the field, it's a formation that the Saints only rolled out 16.8% of the time last year, 24th most in the league. On the flip side, the formation was used frequently by multiple 2025 playoff teams, including the Super Bowl LX champion Seattle Seahawks.
This is a potentially explosive addition indeed. If it all really works out, the Saints offense might be changing for the better next season. At the very least, Tyler Shough gets another weapon in this tight end.