Fant unbothered by knee injury, reels in six catches vs. Giants
Broncos TE: ‘I was pretty confident (I was going to play)’
By Kyle Newman
Broncos’ tight end Noah Fant, sidelined with an injured knee for the latter part of the preseason, had fans concerned about his readiness for the season opener against the Giants on Sunday.
Those concerns were put to rest at Metlife Stadium, where Fant reeled in six catches on eight targets for 62 yards. He averaged 10.3 yards per catch, converted three first downs and said his knee “felt pretty good.”
“I was pretty confident (I was going to play),” Fant said. “Everyone was kind of in a fret about my knee and all these other (injury concerns), but I felt good. The training staff did a good job just limiting me throughout the week and making sure that I didn’t go too far on it.”
Fant was one highlight for the Broncos’ tight end unit during a terrific overall team performance in the 27-13 win over the Giants.
Second-year pro Albert Okwuegbunam had three catches for 16 yards and a touchdown in his return from an ACL injury that cut his promising rookie season short in Week 7 a year ago. And Eric Saubert, a free agent acquisition by new general manager George Paton, had a sevenyard catch in the first quarter during Denver’s first scoring drive.
Considering all that, Fant “expects things to keep going well” with the tight ends heading into Week 2 in Jacksonville.
“I’m trying to be a leader in the room and make sure we do the right things,” Fant said. “I expect for (the tight ends) to keep that up.”
Okwuegbunam credited the Broncos’ offensive balance on Sunday (36 passes, 28 rushes) for opening up the field for Fant and him. Fant’s longest reception of the day was a 25-yard catch-and-run midway through the second quarter to set the Broncos up in Giants’ territory. The Broncos were headed to a score on that drive before Okwuegbunam was stripped and lost a fumble inside the 5-yard line.
Sunday marked Fant’s third-best career receiving output by receptions. The only games where he’s caught more balls were in a pair of games last year: seven catches against the Chargers in a Week 8 comeback win, and eight catches in a loss to Buffalo in Week 15.
“All the run game we do with the tight ends open this up, and then the threats we have on the outside makes those safeties play a little wider,” Okwuegbunam said. “So it’s a combination of things.”
Now that the Broncos got what Fant described as a “very important” Week 1 win, the 23-year-old hopes Denver can keep gaining momentum in another road test next week at Jacksonville.
“Hopefully we can go on a run here and get some more wins,” Fant said. “Winning Week 1 is setting the tone for the rest of the season.”
And count the tight ends being impressed with Teddy Bridgewater’s Denver debut. Fant made special mention of Bridgewater’s ability to extend plays and the quarterback’s hand in the Broncos going three-for-three on fourth-down conversion passes.
“He was cool, calm and collected,” Fant said. “(You can tell) he’s been there before.”