Seahawks LT Fant needs ACL surgery

Aug 19, 2017 - 6:32 PM Seattle Seahawks starting left tackle George Fant, who was carted off the field during Friday night's preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings, needs surgery after tearing his ACL.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll confirmed after the game that Fant likely will miss the 2017 season because of the right knee injury suffered in the second quarter.

"Really broken-hearted about George Fant getting hurt," Carroll said after Seattle's 20-13 win. "Just unfortunate. He's done so much, come so far and everybody's cheering for him and rooting for him all along. He's going to be in trouble getting back this season. He's got a knee injury that's going to require surgery, unfortunately. Kinda takes a little something out of it for everybody."

Fant, 25, went down at the end of a passing play when center Justin Britt fell and rolled into the back of Fant's leg. He was carted off the field with an air cast on his right leg.

A former college basketball player out of Western Kentucky, the 6-foot-5, 322-pound Fant signed with the Seahawks as an undrafted rookie free agent last year and played in 14 games with 10 starts at left tackle.

Fant worked hard during the offseason, putting on about 25 pounds heading into his second NFL year.

"We talked about the great year that he had this offseason and that it's going to take that same kind of application of his fight and his competitiveness and his spirit to work his way back through this," Carroll told reporters Friday night. "And in that he felt very confident that he would do exactly that. He's going to take the same approach that he took to this offseason and he's going to get back, and when he gets back he's going to be a really good football player."

Fant was injured on a play when quarterback Russell Wilson completed a 9-yard slant pass to tight end Marcus Lucas.

"I talked to George in the training room about him just being upbeat and continuing to learn everything he can learn even though he is going to be out for a bit here," Wilson said. "We don't know exactly what is going on but he wants to continue to learn the game and that is key."