Noah Fant Shares Unique Impression of Catching Passes From Teddy Bridgewater for First Time: 'Ball Placement is Important to Him'
Noah Fant has caught passes from six different quarterbacks — if you count wideout-turned-emergency-signal-caller Kendall Hinton last year — in two short seasons with the Denver Broncos. From Joe Flacco to Brandon Allen to Drew Lock to Jeff Driskel to Brett Rypien, as well as Hinton, the third-year tight end hasn't exactly been gifted consistency at the quarterback position.
Fant has spent most of his 31 NFL games (25 starts) catching balls thrown by Lock — a quarterback with some impressive (if raw) tools but not exactly known for his accuracy as a passer. This time around, Fant could end up catching most of his passes from Teddy Bridgewater, if the veteran QB vanquishes the incumbent Lock in the Broncos' summer competition for under-center supremacy.
With Bridgewater just hitting the Broncos' locker room for the first time on Monday, Fant is still getting acquainted with the vet, both as a man and as a teammate. Following the third OTA practice on Thursday, Fant offered up a gut reaction to what it's like catching passes from the right arm of 'Teddy Two-Gloves.'
“I've gotten the chance to throw with Teddy these last couple days of OTAs," Fant said Thursday after practice. "You can definitely tell that he's a vet. Ball placement and things like that are very important to him. He's been great for us—he and Drew both. I'm excited to see them compete through camp and through the preseason to help our team be better.”
If you were looking for a juicy, salacious quote from Fant throwing his support behind one QB or another, this one wasn't it. However, it is interesting that the tight end's first impression was Bridgewater's ball placement. His accuracy.
That would imply, and this is me interpreting from my armchair, that Fant perceived a change or improvement in the ball placement department, going from catching passes from Lock to Bridgewater. Again, though, that's me reading into Fant's statement in which he was responding to a question soliciting his first impression of Bridgewater.
Lock has seemed uber-focused since arriving at the Broncos' voluntary OTAs. After an offseason spent honing his craft, and importuning the likes of Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning to spend 9-10 hours together breaking down film, Lock is highly motivated entering Year 3.
But so is Bridgewater, who's coming off a disappointing end to a one-year tenure in Carolina after the Panthers paid him a franchise-QB-caliber $63 million deal. Bridgewater is driven to prove that he's more than a band-aid, bridge-type QB at this stage in his career but in order to do so, he'll have to usurp Lock's job as the starter in Denver.
Thursday was highlighted by a 44-second clip published by Broncos media that seemed to show Lock getting picked off by safety Justin Simmons during a 7-on-7 team drill, though ascertaining whether it was Lock on the throwing requires some conjecture and guesswork (but Bridgewater and No. 3 QB Brett Rypien could be seen on one the sideline during the clip).
Process of elimination, etc.
Fant obviously has the relationship with Lock as the two arrived in the NFL together as the Broncos' first and second-round draft picks in 2019, respectively. Lock also was one of a small handful of teammates including Von Miller, head coach Vic Fangio, and GM George Paton, who traveled to attend the funeral of Fant's mother, who passed away suddenly in early May.
As a friend, and a leader, Lock showed Fant the love. The big tight end appreciated it.
"That meant a lot. I just so happened to be walking outside for a second before the service started and I saw all them coming in," Fant recollected. "It made me tear up and it made me get pretty emotional. It just shows how much they care, how much they care about me, how much they care about my family, and that it's not just all business. That meant a lot to me."
Fant says he's "doing good" as he grieves over the loss of his mother.
"Just taking it a day at a time," Fant said. "I know that my mom would want me to keep working and keep grinding. She was always happy to see me on the field. [I'll] definitely use that as motivation for sure.”
Your heart goes out to Fant, losing his mother at the young age of 23. He will be motivated, as he said, to have himself a big year.
Tapped by Mile High Huddle as the Broncos' No. 1 breakout candidate for 2021, even Miller has gushed over how "buff" Fant looks. The eight-time Pro Bowl pass rusher has Mile-High expectations for his third-year teammate.
"Noah Fant is my favorite guy on the team," Miller said on Day 1 of OTAs. "I want to tell all you guys that. Noah Fant, I’m super excited about this guy. He’s buff, he’s strong. I think he’s going into Year 3 now and he just looks like a beast."
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.
Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to Mile High Huddle on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!
