To me, Noah Fant was the biggest “winner” of the first preseason game. I saw enough that I’m moving him up on my board.

Fant wasn’t great. He dropped the first pass thrown his way, and it was a short throw that was right on target – a clanger. And he seemed to be a step slow on what could have been a long completion down the sideline. Fant caught a 7-yard pass, and the other ball thrown his way was batted down at the line of scrimmage. Not earth-shattering stuff.

But Fant played plenty around the line of scrimmage and seemed to hold up just fine as a blocker. He was whistled for a hold, but he had a few other good blocks. When they drafted him, I was wondering if Fant would line up essentially as a wide receiver. I didn’t know if he’d be able to block well enough to be a regular tight end, and I didn’t know if they’d use him on many short routes.

After the way they went to him extensively on short routes early in the Atlanta game, I’m figuring he’s going to be a primary part of Denver’s short passing game, and Joe Flacco is a quarterback who likes connecting on those short throws underneath.

Flacco got benched halfway through last year, but the previous season, Benjamin Watson caught 61 passes in that offense. Go back another year, and there’s Dennis Pitta catchinÓg 86.

In the last 10 years, Baltimore had eight top-20 tight ends. It’s early; let’s see what they look like in their next few preseason games. (Flacco hasn’t even stepped on the field yet.) But right now, I’m thinking Fant looks like a reasonably safe choice to finish with top-15 numbers among tight ends.

JOE FLACCO'S TIGHT ENDS
YearPlayerNoYardsAvgTDPPRRk
2016Dennis Pitta867298.52170.98
2012Dennis Pitta6166911.07169.98
2009Todd Heap5359311.26148.514
2017Benjamin Watson615228.64137.211
2011Ed Dickson545289.85136.817
2010Todd Heap4059915.05129.915
2014Owen Daniels4852711.04124.718
2018Mark Andrews3455216.23107.217
2011Dennis Pitta4040510.1398.526
2015Crockett Gillmore3341212.5498.226
2008Todd Heap3540311.5393.324
2013Dallas Clark3134311.1383.331
2015Maxx Williams322688.4164.839
2013Ed Dickson2527310.9158.346
2017Nick Boyle282037.3050.344
2018Nick Boyle232139.3044.347
2012Ed Dickson2122510.7043.549
2013Dennis Pitta201698.5142.950
2018Maxx Williams161438.9137.156
2015Nick Boyle181538.5035.355
2018Hayden Hurst1316312.5135.359
2010Ed Dickson1115213.8132.253
2016Darren Waller10858.5230.559
2017Maxx Williams15865.7130.262
2014Dennis Pitta161257.8028.557
2014Crockett Gillmore1012112.1128.158
2016Crockett Gillmore8718.9121.170
2008Daniel Wilcox5193.8218.964
2015Daniel Brown66410.7012.486
2016Nick Boyle6447.3010.483
2009L.J. Smith23115.505.189
2013Billy Bajema2189.003.898
2015Darren Waller2189.003.899
2008Edgar Jones12525.003.594
2009Edgar Jones188.001.896
2010Dennis Pitta111.001.1103

—Ian Allan