The Bucs have to re-shuffle the deck a little bit with their offensive line after the injury news that Tristan Wirfs could be sidelined for the first couple of games for the 2025 season following knee surgery in early July. Tampa Bay will have Charlie Heck starting in Wirfs’ place at left tackle, but then it leaves the team thin on experience at tackle behind Heck and Luke Goedeke, the starter at right tackle.
It appears the Buccaneers are addressing this quickly as Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports is reporting that the team is working out free agent offensive tackle George Fant on Tuesday.
Source: Former #Seahawks OT George Fant is working out for the #Bucs today.
Fant has 75 career starts, and Tampa Bay is exploring options at OT with All-Pro Tristan Wirfs expected to miss the start of the season due to a knee injury. pic.twitter.com/E1myZ46LWb
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 22, 2025
Although the team will have Heck ready to go, what happens next if an injury were to come up for Heck or Goedeke? There aren’t many other players on this roster that are NFL-ready or that Tampa Bay would trust playing for a whole game.
Why George Fant Makes Sense For Bucs
Free agent George Fant would make for a great insurance policy for the Buccaneers if Charlie Heck or Luke Goedeke did go down before Tristan Wirfs returns. Coming out of Western Kentucky as an undrafted free agent, Fant signed with the Seahawks and started 10 games his rookie year. In total, Fant has started 75 games in his career between the Seahawks, Jets and Texans.
OT George Fant – Photo by: USA Today
What makes Fant valuable to the team is his experience playing both left and right tackle. When Fant played for the Jets from 2020 to 2022 he started at right tackle and then moved to left tackle in-season due to injuries along the offensive line and started there as well.
It would not be an issue to have Fant go to either side of the line depending on what it asked of him in a particular moment. He was also a team captain with New York, showing his leadership ability.
OT George Fant – Photo by: USA Today
He started 13 games in 2023 with the Texans and started in two games in 2024 when he came back to the Seahawks. In those two games he had a Pro Football Focus grade of 65.8 in Week 1 and 56.7 in Week 9. Those aren’t the best grades by any means but they also aren’t disastrous either.
Bucs Should Consider Signing George Fant
There are not many things that could derail the Bucs’ 2025 season, but injuries could. The team is still good enough to overcome missing Tristan Wirfs for a handful of games and not having Chris Godwin for however long it takes him to finish recovering. Another injury at offensive tackle would put the Buccaneers in dire straits, though.
OT George Fant and RB Michael Carter – Photo by: USA Today
Tampa Bay has a blue-chip developmental project in Ben Chukwuma, but he is not NFL ready. That also goes for international exemption Lorenz Metz, who doesn’t have the necessary speed and agility to be a starter. The other options on the roster at tackle for Tampa Bay include Silas Dzansi, Garrett Greenfield and Raiqwon O’Neal. Realistically, Fant is the best choice out of the whole group due to his experience.
In a recent video on PewterReportTV, we talked about a couple of offensive tackles that the Buccaneers should look into signing with Wirfs out and George Fant was mentioned. Check out the video for more and please subscribe to our YouTube channel.