Smashing the lies being told about Noah Fant through analytics
The Denver Broncos picked Noah Fant for his ability to be a mismatch in the passing game. What does the tape say about his abilities after the catch?
Box score scouting is fun. It’s become even more fun thanks to our friends at Pro Football Focus.
This is not a slight to PFF or the work they do there, but I do want to highlight ways things are missed, even with their in-depth analytics and the way they break things down from a borderline baseball-like statistical perspective.
One issue I have taken in the 2019 NFL Draft season with PFF — even before he was drafted by the Broncos (for all the haters) — is their recent analysis of Noah Fant’s game.
PFF, within the last month, made Fant seem like a drops machine who can’t make plays after the catch and who is a hack in contested catch situations.
No fewer than three of their analysts tweeted out these stats, but I’m going to use the tweet from my pal Austin Gayle because he’s a former FanSided brother and you should follow him.
Of the 42 TEs in this class with 50 career targets, Noah Fant ranks (per @PFF_College):
— Austin Gayle (@austingayle_) April 22, 2019
- T-32nd in forced missed tackles/reception
- T-23rd in explosive plays/reception
- 17th in yards after the catch/reception
- T-25th in contested-catch rate
- 1st in drops
Austin, if you’re reading this, you’re the man, but I’m going to rip these numbers to shreds.
I went back and watched just about every reception of Noah Fant’s last two years at Iowa to discover exactly why these numbers exist, because I can’t argue that they exist.
The first number I want to address? The drops.