ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) — Life can throw curveballs and for Denver Broncos tight end Noah Fant, the biggest tragedy in life was thrown his way this offseason. His mother passed away unexpectedly in May.

“I think about her every day, but it’s a part of life. She and my dad prepared me for times like this. I’ve been relying on my faith a lot and relying on my teammates,” the Broncos third year tight end said. “They’ve been helping me out a lot. Justin Simmons is another one that I talk to quite a bit. They’ve been helping me out a lot and just being there for me. Von asks me every day how I’m doing and asks me when my dad is coming out. We have some great guys on this team.”

Nothing can make the pain go away, but distractions help as Fant attended the Tight End University Summit hosted by tight end greats Travis Kelce, George Kittle and Greg Olson.

“I learned a lot about the routes that they run, about how they transfer over into what I’m doing. We do a lot of similar things,” Fant said. “I’m definitely excited to try and implement those things this year and [I’m] definitely excited to play against those guys. I developed relationships there.”

In 2020, Fant went through a lot of injury adversity. The drive is there for him to have a stellar third season in an orange and blue uniform. 

“You have guys that are hungry going into year three and year four that want to solidify themselves as top at their position. Also, that’s going to help directly to our team if you have a receiver that’s the best in the league, a tight end that’s best in the league, a quarterback that’s best in the league. Both of those two goals—guys have a lot of urgency to reach those things,” Fant said. “I think our work ethic at practice has been really good in that aspect, being perfectionists out there and trying to improve anything possible.”

Fant had 673 receiving yards and three touchdowns last season.