CINCINNATI (AP) — Tight end Noah Fant's search for a new team is over after signing a one-year contract with Cincinnati, the Bengals announced on Thursday.
Fant's decision to choose the Bengals was anticipated earlier in the day with coach Zac Taylor hinting at the potential signing in speaking to reporters before practice.
“You’ve got a player that’s really a plus player in both the run and the pass. At the point of attack blocking, back side of blocking. Protection, can help you. Also really explosive as a receiver," Taylor said about Fant. "Great size, great explosiveness, really good hands. Tough to bring down. We really feel good about where our tight end room will be.”
Fant visited the Bengals last week after being released by the Seattle Seahawks on July 20. He had 48 receptions for 500 yards and a touchdown in 14 games last season. Fant also visited New Orleans and Miami after his trip to Cincinnati.
His addition provides quarterback Joe Burrow a solid tight end duo. Mike Gesicki is expected to be the starter.
Fant is entering his seventh season. He was a first-round pick by the Denver Broncos in 2019 and spent three seasons there before going to Seattle.
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FILE - Seattle Seahawks tight end Noah Fant walks back to the locker room before an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Jan. 5, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong, file)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, coming as part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote Thursday on social media, “Motor Tanker Veronica had previously passed through Venezuelan waters, and was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
A social media post from U.S. Southern Command on the capture said that Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to make the capture while Noem’s post noted that, like in previous raids, a U.S. Coast Guard tactical team conducted the boarding and seizure.
Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.
The Veronica is the sixth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products, and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
Noem, in her social media post, said that the raid was carried out with “close coordination with our colleagues” in the military as well as the State and Justice departments.
“Our heroic Coast Guard men and women once again ensured a flawlessly executed operation, in accordance with international law,” Noem added.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
