The Seahawks now have a hole on their offensive line. Following last night’s preseason win over the Vikings, head coach Pete Carroll revealed that left tackle George Fant tore his right ACL and will require surgery. While the team hasn’t announced a definitive timeframe for the lineman, it’s assumed that he will miss the entire season. The 25-year-old was injured during the second quarter after teammate Justin Britt accidentally rolled into his leg.
“Really broken-hearted about George Fant getting hurt,” Carroll said (via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com). “Just unfortunate. He’s done so much, come so far and everybody’s cheering for him and rooting for him all along. He’s going to be in trouble getting back this season. He’s got a knee injury that’s going to require surgery, unfortunately. Kinda takes a little something out of it for everybody.”
Fant had a bit of an unconventional path to the NFL. Despite not having played organized football since the eighth grade, the former Western Kentucky University basketball star decided to join the school’s football team for the 2015 season. After playing sparingly during his lone collegiate season, he signed on with the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2016.
While he mostly played tight end during his college career, the Seahawks transitioned Fant into an offensive tackle. The 6-foot-6 rookie ended up playing a significant role for Seattle last season, starting 10 of his 14 games. While ProFootballFocus.com wasn’t particularly fond of his performance, the Seahawks clearly had high hopes for the lineman.
That sentiment was emphasized this offseason, as Fant came into camp 20 pounds heavier, and Carroll certainly recognized the player’s improvement at the position.
“I don’t think anyone has done more than George Fant,” Carroll said (via Matt Calkins of the Seattle Times). “George just had a fantastic spring and offseason … he got bigger and stronger and was able to add, shoot, maybe 22-23 pounds from where he was last year.”
Fant was expected to be the Seahawks’ starting left tackle, leaving the team with a hole on that unit. Rees Odhiambo replaced his injured teammate during last night’s contest, and ESPN.com’s Sheil Kapadia suggests that the team could also use left guard Luke Joeckel at the position.
Please tell me the Seahawks will trade for a tackle or sign a decent one via free agency.
Also, it’s weird that the comment sections in the nfl stories are always so dead when the mlb comments average like 50+ posts. Odd.
Not a fan of Pre-Season FB I get it but so many players get lost for the season over games that just do not matter or count
He was ranked very low when he was active last year and can’t see that he would have improved that much this year. So there was a hole in the offensive line either way that the team didn’t address. Unless Joekel can do the job now and move someone in at left guard. Either way they’re not Super Bowl contenders with that offensive line. IMO…
Weird. I only posted this once… ????
Bleacher report and vegas have the Hawks as 11-1 odds to win. I’d say even without fant they look very good early out of the gate.