Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
TE AJ Barner, SEA (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Faust
- Start date
Alex P Keaton
Footballguy
Yeah, let’s *hope* that a TE can catch instead of scouting to find out if they can catch…..
mjb03003
Footballguy
What are we making of AJ Barner through 5 games this season?
I'll be the first to admit he wasn't on my radar as a TE sleeper at all, so I did some research on him. He's 23 years old and was drafted in the 4th round in 2024 out of Michigan where he played his senior year and won a national championship (he played for Indiana his first 3 years). Michigan ran a notoriously run-heavy offense, but Barner had 22 receptions for 249 yards finishing tied for 4th on the team in yardage behind WR Roman Wilson, fellow TE Colston Loveland, and WR Cornelius Johnson, tied with RB Donovan Edwards. Colston Loveland has far more speed and athleticism to his game, and I'm guessing Barner was used more as an in-line TE although their measurements are nearly identical at 6'6" and about 245 lbs. Barner's scouting report cites below-average pass-catching traits, but a hard worker who continues to improve.
His week 5 breakout (7/53/2 on 7 targets) was his first game with more than 3 receptions, and the Seahawks did draft Elijah Arroyo in the 2nd round this year to be their big, fast, seam-stretching TE. That said, Barner's now played 80+% of the snaps in 4 out of 5 games (Arroyo has only exceeded 50% once) and he has 4 TDs on the year, scoring from 7, 16, 6, and 2 yards out. Darnold seems to look for this guy in the red zone and that might be enough to make him a solid TE streamer with room to grow.
I'll be the first to admit he wasn't on my radar as a TE sleeper at all, so I did some research on him. He's 23 years old and was drafted in the 4th round in 2024 out of Michigan where he played his senior year and won a national championship (he played for Indiana his first 3 years). Michigan ran a notoriously run-heavy offense, but Barner had 22 receptions for 249 yards finishing tied for 4th on the team in yardage behind WR Roman Wilson, fellow TE Colston Loveland, and WR Cornelius Johnson, tied with RB Donovan Edwards. Colston Loveland has far more speed and athleticism to his game, and I'm guessing Barner was used more as an in-line TE although their measurements are nearly identical at 6'6" and about 245 lbs. Barner's scouting report cites below-average pass-catching traits, but a hard worker who continues to improve.
His week 5 breakout (7/53/2 on 7 targets) was his first game with more than 3 receptions, and the Seahawks did draft Elijah Arroyo in the 2nd round this year to be their big, fast, seam-stretching TE. That said, Barner's now played 80+% of the snaps in 4 out of 5 games (Arroyo has only exceeded 50% once) and he has 4 TDs on the year, scoring from 7, 16, 6, and 2 yards out. Darnold seems to look for this guy in the red zone and that might be enough to make him a solid TE streamer with room to grow.
warpig33
Footballguy
The scouts and pundits that kept saying Arroyo will be the starting TE and have a sizable role need to find another career field. They probably sat in the stands on their socials while shoving hotdogs down their throat not watching practices at all.
BespokeJort
Footballguy
This guy had a few inspiring enough highlights last year to pique my interest despite the low volume, but when arroyo got drafted I kind of wrote him off. But he’d shown enough flashes to be on my ‘maybe something real if he pops’ list. Arriyo could overtake him eventually but I’m not shocked he’s producing
Similar threads
- Poll
