Elijah Arroyo’s rise. AJ Barner’s goals. Eric Saubert’s fit. Why Seahawks TEs matter more
What were the Seahawks thinking dumping Noah Fant?
What were they thinking three days before training camp began, cutting their starting tight end on their remodeling offense — one with a new play caller (Klint Kubiak), a new quarterback (Sam Darnold), new top wide receiver (Cooper Kupp) and new schemes everywhere?
They were thinking Elijah Arroyo, AJ Barner and Eric Saubert.
They are the tight ends remaining after coach Mike Macdonald and general manager John Schneider released Fant, the 27-year-old the Seahawks acquired from Denver in the Russell Wilson trade the spring of 2022. Cutting Fant saved Seattle $8.9 million against their salary cap in 2025.
Macdonald wasn’t about to explain why the Seahawks released Fant when they did.
“I’m not going to tell you exactly why,” Macdonald said last week. “There’s multiple reasons.”
It wasn’t surprising the Seahawks cut Fant. His contract did not match his relative lack of production in his three seasons with Seattle.
The move was surprising for its timing. They could have done it in March, to get more buying power in free agency. They could have done it May, after they drafted Arroyo in the second round..
As of Sunday the former first-round draft choice remained unemployed as NFL teams go through the first weekend of training camps.
Cutting Fant was telling about — and to — Barner, Arroyo and Saubert.
“Unfortunately, a part of the league,” said Barner, the Seahawks’ fourth-round pick last year from Michigan and Indiana. “Noah was always great to me when he was here. Talented player.
“But the show goes on. And, honestly, (this is) a big opportunity for me and the rest of the guys in the room.”
Barner, 23, impressed coaches as a rookie last season with his ability to block as an in-line tight end and his ability to catch and hold on to passes while getting hit.
He’s now the replacement for Fant as the lead tight end.
Macdonald talked this past weekend about Barner as he doesn’t often talk about his players.
“We love AJ,” the hard-nosed, second-year coach said. “First thing that comes to mind is his mentality and his approach every day.
“He’s very it’s a great representative of what we’re trying to create and how to play, how to approach every day. So that definitely excites us.
“We believe in AJ’s goal, (which) is to be a top, overall tight end in the league.”
Eleven of the 17 pass catchers in this training camp are new. That’s by Macdonald’s and Schneider’s design.
They traded DK Metcalf and released Tyler Lockett in March. There are 12 wide receivers on the 90-man preseason roster. Only five of them were on the team last year: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, John Rhys Plumlee, Cody White and Dereke Young. Plumlee and White were on the practice squad most of last season.
At tight end, Barner is the only one of the five in camp that was with Seattle in 2024. Fant and Pharaoh Brown from last season are long gone.
Yet the coach sounded satisfied the Seahawks do not need to bring in another tight end after releasing Fant.
“Our tight end room, based on our system, we feel them come alive,” he said, mentioning Kubiak’s play-action bootleg passing game plus drop-back throwing. “I know there’s not a lot of guys who were here last year,” Macdonald said.
“That creates opportunity.”
Added importance for tight ends
Kubiak’s new outside-zone blocking system puts a premium on tight ends. Seattle now values them far more than the team did under its last two offensive coordinators, Ryan Grubb (2024) and Shane Waldron (2021-23).
The point of attack for the many running plays in outside zone is most often the gap between the offensive tackle and tight end. The running back must read those two blockers immediately after the snap to decide what direction to cut with the ball.
If the tight end can’t block the edge up the field immediately after the snap, he can’t play for Kubiak.
That’s why the Seahawks coaches love the rugged Barner. It’s why didn’t value the pass-catch-first Fant as much.
“The tight end is the tip of the spear, leading the charge, really,” Barner said. “Obviously, the whole O-line is going to be in the front line, but we’re on the edge. We have to make sure we create a new line of scrimmage. And that’s something that I’m very passionate about, and excited to do.
“It’s something that I can be one of the best in the league at doing.”
Enter Elijah Arroyo
Barner is the new number-one tight end at least until Arroyo improves his blocking.
But the rookie second-round draft choice from Miami is putting on a show so far in training camp with his pass catching.
The 6-foot-5, 254-pound Arroyo has been running, leaping and diving for catches as if he weighs 215 pounds. Saturday in the fourth practice of camp he soared to snare passes from Sam Darnold, Drew Lock and Jalen Milroe.
Kubiak has Arroyo playing all over the starting and second-team offenses: In-line as a traditional tight end; in the slot; outside as an “X” wide receiver Metcalf used to be for Seattle. Arroyo has been in motion a lot in training camp before the snap. He’s been running deep seam routes, intermediate crossing routes, quick out routes.
“We drafted Elijah because we thought he was going to be a great football player and a great tight end, and didn’t really have an impact of, like, what the team needed at that point,” Macdonald said. “This guy’s just a heck of a player.
“It’s route tree. It’s being able to split out also playing line, which he’s working on. He’s got a lot of room to grow, and we’re going put a lot of pressure on him.
“We expect a lot out of him. So he’s got a great opportunity in front of him.”
Why Eric Saubert
You may have deduced by now why Macdonald and Schneider signed Saubert this offseason. The 31-year-old, who in 2017 with Atlanta became the first player from Drake drafted into the NFL in 35 years, is on his eighth team in nine years.
Last season he played in all 17 games for San Francisco, in a Kyle Shanahan offense based upon the same system as Kubiak’s now in Seattle. Saubert played 35% of the offensive snaps for the 49ers, and 67% on special teams.
He’s 6-5 and 248 pounds. He’s been in the league this long for so many teams because he blocks at tight end some of the sport’s biggest studs at defensive end and edge rusher.
“One on one versus a defensive end or outside linebacker, and, like, we’re trusted as tight ends to take on that task. It’s not an easy task,” Saubert told The News Tribune before a practice last week.
“Those guys get paid a lot of money, you know. They’re some of the best athletes in the world, and it’s our responsibility to move them off the ball, right? So it’s a tough job.”
The Seahawks must set their 53-man roster for the regular season by the league deadline of Aug. 27. Expect Saubert to be on it.
He does what Kubiak and Macdonald demand from tight ends in this new Seattle offense. And he has three more years of NFL experience than the other four tight ends in camp have, combined.
“He’s got a great reputation. Some of our coaches had a prior relationship with him,” Macdonald said. “Obviously, knows the system well. But just really impressed with his veteran leadership, again, just how you operate in the building, and being a part of the team-building that we’re trying to create.
“He’s right in the thick of it. He doesn’t feel like a guy that just picked up for a year, or whatever it feels like. He feels like he’s a true Seahawk.”
