The 2016 Seattle Seahawks are not be nearly the same almost dynastic team they have been in recent years past.
The sub-par play this season can be attributed to the offensive line. Having spent the least of all 32 NFL teams on their offensive line, the team has had to supplement the positions with younger, more inexperienced players. The most inexperienced of those is about as inexperienced as it gets.
Geogre Fant, the team’s new starting left tackle, has never started at the LT position in his life and hasn’t even started a football game since he was a player in Pee Wee football.
Even then, he didn’t play offensive tackle.
Via SB Nation –
“Never,’’ Fant told The Seattle Times in August when asked about his experience at the position. “Never. Never had one [game] in my life.’’
In eighth grade, Fant decided basketball was the route for him, and he landed at Western Kentucky where he played power forward. When he gave football a shot, he only played in a few games on special teams and took some snaps at tight end.
But here he is, one year later, getting ready to protect the Seahawks’ $89.142-million investment, Russell Wilson, who has already been banged up a ton in 2016. In a 6-6 tie with the Arizona Cardinals, Wilson suffered a pectoral injury that limited him in practice, but isn’t expected to keep him from playing.
The Seahawks insist they believe in Fant’s ability to handle the responsibility, even if he’s an undrafted rookie trying to learn something brand new as fast as possible.
“Yeah, he has surprised us from the first day that he stood on the practice field,” Pete Carroll told reporters of Fant. “He just physically understood how to do the stuff that we were asking him to do. There was no way we could have anticipated he would jump to it as quickly as he did. We’re really excited about him. He’s way ahead of the curve in that regard.”
He’s already seen time in four games as a reserve, and stepped in against the Cardinals when Sowell went down. Unsurprisingly, his matchup against Chandler Jones and the Arizona defense didn’t go very well. He earned one of the lowest grades of the week from Pro Football Focus and was credited with allowing one hit, two hurries, and he picked up a holding penalty.
But that should probably be expected when a team throws in a player who hasn’t started a football game since youth leagues.
