Does A New Offense Help Noah Fant & Newcomers At Tight End Thrive?

Key Tight End Additions: Pharaoh Brown (free agent signing), AJ Barner (draft).

Key Tight End Departures: Will Dissly (signed with Chargers), Colby Parkinson (signed with Rams).

One of the Seahawks’ bigger moves in free agency this year was not an addition, but rather the re-signing of tight end Noah Fant, who has been a key part of the offense over the past two seasons since arriving as part of the trade that sent Russell Wilson to Denver two years ago.

But while Fant is back, the Seahawks will still look quite a bit different at tight end, having lost Will Dissly and Colby Parkinson in free agency. To bolster that position after losing Dissly and Parkinson, the Seahawks signed veteran free agent Pharaoh Brown while adding AJ Barner in the draft.

Brown, who appeared in 17 games last season with 11 starts for the Patriots, has been a big special teams contributor throughout his seven-year NFL career, but the Seahawks also envision a big role for him in the offense, with president of football operations/general manager John Schneider noting, “Pharaoh in our opinion is one of the top two or three blocking tight ends in the National Football League, he brings a nastiness to us.” Barner, meanwhile, projects as a versatile tight end who should be able to help the team in the passing game, as a blocker and on special teams.

“Our type of guy, top-level worker, big-time competitor,” Macdonald said. “He can block and run a pretty significant route tree as well, and then he played for (special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh) on special teams in all four phases so we’re going to expect him to come contribute in the kicking game as well as soon as he steps in the door.