Lets talk about George Fant

Edition: #158

Good morning!

The Jets players have gone their separate ways now and we won’t see them back at the facility until training camp begins. The Jets have yet to release the date for the start of training camp but it will likely be in late July, the only team I’m aware of who’ve announced their camp dates is the New England Patriots, and their return date is the 26th of July.

Content may be hard to come by over the next month, but hopefully, you’ll stick with me. Today I’m talking about all things, George Fant.

George Fant sent a few ripples through the Twittersphere on Wednesday with three little words posted in response to the official NFL account tweeting the extension that Minkah Fitzpatrick signed with the steelers… “Must be nice”.

Last year George Fant was one of the best pass-blocking left tackles in football, he was one of only four tackles to play at least 800 snaps and allow 1 or fewer sacks and 20 or fewer total pressures. He may not have been dominant in the run game, but he kept Zach clean.

Fant is also entering the final year of his three-year deal with the Jets, a deal that is set to pay him $11.1 million in 2022. If Fant remains at left tackle that $11.1 million would place him as the 14th highest-paid left tackle in football, if he returns to the right side then it would place him as the 3rd highest right tackle, and there lies the problem.

Right now, we don’t know where Fant will line up next season. If he loses the left tackle battle to Mekhi Becton then his contract is fitting for his position, if he wins the left tackle job as I expect him to do, that contract looks low, so when talking about an extension… and we know the Jets have spoken to Fant’s representatives about an extension, where do you start the bidding?

If Fant sees himself as a left tackle, it’s likely he wants left tackle money. If he wants to be in the top 10 then that conversation starts at $15 million per year and considering he’s entering his 30s, I think he’s looking for some security and some stability. If the Jets offered him a three-year $45 million deal would it get done? I don’t know, but that’s where the conversation is probably heading.

The issue is that Fant has been a decent swing tackle, but only has one year of elite left tackle tape behind him. The Jets would be betting that 2021 was no aberration but the new normal, it’s risky. Back in 2020, Fant allowed more sacks (3) and more total pressures (33) with lower pass-blocking efficiency (96.2%) in fewer pass-blocking snaps (87 fewer).

This is all conjecture because we don’t know what Fant’s asking for, but his tweet would indicate that his perception of his value and the Jets’ perception of his value are apart, at least for now. He didn’t participate in the team OTA’s and while he did make an appearance at mandatory camp, he worked off to the side with the trainers as he continues his rehab from a knee injury that forced him onto the injured reserve list in January.

There is reason to believe that Fant’s best years are ahead of him and with the uncertainty, the Jets have at tackle, they would be wise to try and lock Fant down beyond 2022.

We can’t forget that before the Seahawks took a chance on him as a UDFA, Fant had played very little football. He was a basketball player at Western Kentucky and despite having offers to join the football team throughout his time there, he refused at every point, even when friend and current TE Tyler Higbee joined the chorus. Eventually, he realized that if he wanted to make any money from basketball he’d need to head overseas (he said Poland was an option) and that trying football may not be the worst idea considering he’d just got married and had his first child.

He transitioned to a tight end but played sparingly for Western Kentucky in his final year, he had so little tape on the football field despite playing numerous positions “People were kind of making fun of me that I didn’t play,’’ he said. “But the whole time I was just watching and learning everything at every position — offense, defense. I played like four, five different positions, so I was just watching and learning everything.’’ - but the Seahawks took elements of his basketball tape like competitiveness and physicality and trusted that it would transfer over.

After Seattle drafted him, Tom Cable who was the offensive line coach for the Seahawks at the time gave one of my favorite quotes about drafting a guy who was a little positionless and needed to make a leap at the NFL level - “I just think it’s normal,’’ said Seattle offensive line coach Tom Cable. “It’s what we do here. There are a lot of teams that would pick a guy cause he’s all this and he’s all that. He’s supposed to be a left this and a right that. It’s all baloney. They look flashy and they look cool but it doesn’t necessarily work like that.’’

Considering he went through the pre-draft process at 296lbs, his testing was off the charts for an offensive lineman. He ran a 4.84 at nearly 300lbs and jumped 37” in terms of the vertical, both elite numbers. Terron Armstead holds the record for the 40-yard dash having ran it in 4.71…so that kind of gives an indication.

George really took the challenge of learning a new position in stride and within months of being drafted based on the back of very little tape, he was impressing everyone within the Seahawks organization. Pete Carroll spoke about the usual speed of his transition "Yeah, he has surprised us from the first day that he stood on the practice field," Carroll said. "He just physically understood how to do the stuff that we were asking him to do. There was no way we could have anticipated he would jump to it as quickly as he did. We're really excited about him. He's been way ahead of the curve in that regard, very unusual transition he has made."

Fant got his first taste of football in Seattle as a left tackle. Imagine that, you’ve not played consistent football since 8th grade for your pee wee football team the Lincoln Heights Tigers, and your first real exposure comes as a left tackle in the NFL. Unsurprisingly, that 2016 season was a struggle as he allowed 7 sacks and 47 pressures in 439 pass-blocking snaps. After suffering a torn ACL ahead of the 2017 season he spent the next two years floating between some spot starts at left tackle and right tackle, as well as lining up as a 6th blocker on the line.

When he signed for the Jets in 2020, some initially thought Joe Douglas had panicked after the Browns gave Jack Conklin a three-year, $42 million contract, a player rumored to be a top priority for the Jets. The Jets signed Fant with the intention of playing him at left tackle, replacing Kelvin Beachum who had been the starter since 2017.

The Jets obviously took Becton in that 2020 draft and although they didn’t immediately confirm that Becton would take the left tackle job, it became quite obvious, quite quickly. Fant had an up and down 2020 but his 2021 was notable, one because of how good he was and how well his athletic profile fit into the offensive zone-blocking system the Jets like to operate, but also because it was only his 2nd season of sustained action at the position.

Offensive linemen tend to age relatively well in football, despite the strain and physical impact of their positions. Trent Williams (33) is still one of the best in football, Tyron Smith (31), Andrew Whitworth had a good season last year at 39, Lane Johnson (32), Tom Compton (33)…all guys who are playing at a high level. I’m not concerned with Fant’s age, especially because he only has 3,226 snaps to his name in the pros, he’s not had a ton of wear and tear on the body.

Much like Connor McGovern, Fant’s experience in his position is limited, and logic would suggest that the more a player plays at the position, the better he’ll become through experience and repetition. I love consistency on the offensive line, it’s something I preach year after year, for Zach’s development keeping the line together should be a priority, and extending Fant does just that.