Is Shake-Up Coming to Seattle Seahawks’ Tight End Room?
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="900"]
With the edition of second-round tight end Elijah Arroyo, the Seattle Seahawks may may drastic changes to the position before, during or after this season. Credit: Elijah Arroyo/Instagram [/caption]
The Seahawks entered the 2025 NFL Draft with question marks regarding depth. Tight end is one of those spots where, on the surface, it looks like the Seahawks have everything they need. They have a young rising playmaker in AJ Barner, who scored four touchdowns as a rookie. That’s the most by a Seattle tight end since the Jimmy Graham days. Noah Fant brings the extra gear of athleticism along with a veteran presence.
However, Fant’s contract is up after this season. Before the draft, the only tight end slated to be on the 2026 squad was Barner. Enter: Elijah Arroyo.
Seattle selected the Miami tight end with pick No. 50, surprising some. He certainly fits more of the mold of the modern tight end, like Fant, rather than an in-line road-grading tight end. At 6-foot-5, 250 pounds, with elite athleticism, Arroyo offers the athletic profile of a type of Travis Kelce more so than Zach Miller or Luke Willson.
Fant and Arroyo possess similar traits. Having them both play prominent roles in Klint Kubiak’s offense is neither likely nor practical. Fant is owed about $13.4 million in 2025. Seattle would save $8.9 million against the cap if it were to part ways with the veteran tight end.
If the Seahawks were to move on from Fant, they would need to be sure Arroyo is up to the task.
While possessing stellar athletic traits, Fant has not really found his footing in Seattle as a true producer in the passing game. In three seasons with the Seahawks, he has only reached 500 yards once. He famously went nearly two full calendar years without a receiving touchdown. This, after coming to Seattle from Denver on the heels of back-to-back 670-plus yard seasons. The rookie Barner outperformed him in some ways.
The problem with parting ways with Fant is that the depth beyond Barner and Arroyo is lacking. We are talking about reserve journeyman tight end Eric Saubert and undrafted rookies Marshall Lang and Nick Kallerup. Seattle is not exactly wading in the deep end of the tight end pool, especially if they cut Fant.
The other question is, do the Seahawks need to add cap space by cutting Fant? They already possess nearly $35 million in cap space, the sixth-most in the NFL. There isn’t anyone in the free agent market they could feasibly sign that would take up that kind of space on the payroll.
Seattle’s coaching staff should only feel comfortable getting rid of Fant if Arroyo is Week 1 material. If the coaches aren’t sure, it doesn’t make sense to move on from Fant quite yet. However, they should explore the trade routes. Perhaps there is a team with a surplus of interior offensive linemen or cornerbacks willing to swap the six-year veteran tight end. That would also allow Seattle to take on a larger salary if the trade is for a higher-paid player in return.
