Noah

Fant

Fant’s touchdown — one of four for Joe Flacco on the day — was his second over the past three games. Fant has taken on a larger role in the pass-heavy Bengals offense of late. On Sunday against the Bears, Fant ran a route on about half of Flacco’s drop backs. Fant could be a deep league option when the Bengals return from bye in Week 11 against the Steelers.

Fant hasn’t caught more than four passes during the Joe Flacco era, but he has at least three grabs in all three of Flacco’s starts. He also has 40 yards in back-to-back games. With Ja’Marr Chase dominating targets and Tee Higgins there to clean up any looks Chase doesn’t see, there isn’t much room for a third pass-catcher in this offense. Still, Fant has established a TE2 floor, albeit without much of a ceiling. He will sit at the back of the TE2 ranks for Week 9.

Hudson’s expected return bodes poorly for TE Noah Fant’s target-earning potential, though Fant should still run as the primary positional receiver. Hudson sat out in Week 7, allowing Fant to operate as a streaming TE1. Fant caught 4-of-4 targets for 44 yards and one touchdown.

Amidst a Ja’Marr Chase/Tee Higgins targets barrage that saw 33 looks being funneled the elite wideouts’ way, Fant managed to get loose for his first score since Week 1. His 44 yards were also a new season high. What can Joe Flacco do for you? Flacco is going to keep slinging it until his arm falls off, but Fant is still unlikely to see enough volume to push for TE2 status in Week 8 against the Jets.

Hendrickson is sidelined by a hip injury, though the Bengals fortunately get EDGE Shemar Stewart (ankle) back after a four-game absence. Taylor-Britt has evidently been benched in favor of CB Josh Newton this week. The Bengals’ offense lost two tight ends last week, with Hudson suffering a concussion and Mike Gesicki suffering a pectoral injury that landed him on injured reserve this week. Bengals TE Noah Fant is suddenly on the streaming TE1 radar as a result.

Gesicki will miss at least four games after sustaining a knee injury last week against the Packers. Noah Fant and Tanner HUdson split tight end routes after Gesicki exited the game; Hudson saw five targets while Fant saw four from Joe Flacco. Fant would be the slight favorite to be the team’s nominal TE1 going forward, as he’s been targeted on a strong 30 percent of his pass routes in 2025.

It’s an estimated DNP, but we almost never see someone clear protocol ahead of a Thursday night game. With Mike Gesicki also likely out, it looks like Noah Fant may have some stream appeal as a TE2 as the Bengals are forced to rely heavily on him and Drew Sample in their well-stocked tight end platoon.

Taylor told reporters that more information is still being gathered about Gesicki’s injury, but this is clearly setting up to be a multi-week issue based on his initial response. Gesicki has caught eight passes for 61 scoreless yards this season, but was serving as the team’s primary pass-catching tight end, running 73.3 of his snaps from the slot this season, per PFF. Noah Fant will likely step into the role vacated by Gesicki, but give the little target volume (16) that has offered so far, we won’t be rushing to put Fant on the Week 7 fantasy radar.

Fant and TE Tanner Hudson benefited from fellow TE Mike Gesicki’s early-game pectoral injury, though fellow TE Drew Sample mixed in as well, catching 1-of-2 targets for minus-two yards. Hudson had the more productive day, catching 4-of-5 targets for 10 yards and one touchdown. None of the three can be relied upon in re-draft formats against the Steelers, though Fant ran a position-high 23 routes.

Gesicki is one of the secondary receivers that benefitted from Jake Browning throwing it 40 times in the Week 5 loss to the Lions. The 30-year-old tight end hauled in just two of his five targets for 15 yards, though. Noah Fant was held without a target, but his presence alone makes it pretty much impossible for either tight end to hold much fantasy value this year.