Seahawks TE AJ Barner 'A Spark Plug For Our Whole Football Team'
Not long after Eric Saubert signed with the Seahawks this spring, he met new teammate and fellow tight end AJ Barner, and the second-year player made a memorable first impression on the ninth-year veteran.
Despite being a fourth-round pick who was coming off a solid, but statistically unspectacular rookie season, Barner was unafraid to share lofty ambitions with a new teammate. And more importantly, he was willing to then put in the work throughout the offseason to help reach those goals.
"The first time I met him when I got here, that was one of the first things he told me," Saubert said. "He said he loves football and he wants to be great and leave his mark on this team. You can see it in his actions as well. He's not someone who just talks about it, he goes about his day, he puts the work in, he gets to work on his body, he studies the play, he wants to make sure every box is checked, which is cool."
After a solid rookie campaign in which he started five games and played 46 percent of Seattle's offensive snaps, Barner is now Seattle's top tight end both in terms of playing time and production, starting all five games and playing 79 percent of the offensive snaps. And with four touchdowns in five games, including two last Sunday, Barner has matched his 2024 total, and with 14 catches for 134 yards, he's pacing well ahead of last year's stat line of 30 catches for 245 yards. And he means a lot more to the offense than those passing numbers, doing plenty of the dirty work in the trenches that comes with that position, blocking in the running game and helping protect quarterback Sam Darnold.
Barner hasn't played himself into the conversation as one of the league's elite tight ends, at least not yet, but his play is turning heads among his own teammates and coaches.
"He's a spark plug for our whole football team," Seahawks coach Mike Maconald said. "This guy's got a great mentality. He's got swag to him. He's got an edge. He's got toughness. He's got a great spirit about him, where it's not just for our offense, but cares about our football team, and we love him for it. He's doing a tremendous job. He's done a lot of unselfish work on our offense a lot of the time. In the pass protection and run game, he takes a lot of pride in all those things. As we like to say, the ball finds energy, and when you do things right and do it consistently, you tend to get rewarded for that type of stuff, and I think that's what we're seeing with him. When we find him the ball, good things have been happening."
Said Saubert, "He's killing it. He's a big dude. You don't see many tight ends that are like 260-plus these days, especially with the skillset he has. He moves really well for his size and catches the ball really well. I was really impressed with the play on the scramble drill where he turned up, came back, made a nice sliding catch—you don't see many people that are like 265 that can do stuff like that. His skillset, his size and his desire to be a great player, all three of those things standout. He's one of the better young tight ends in the league, and he's only getting better, which is cool."
Like Saubert and other players, Macdonald heard in offseason conversations with Barner a player who was committed to taking his game to another level.
"That was our conversation at the end of the year on what we felt like he could become, and he shared the same feeling," Macdonald said. "The way he attacked the offseason, I'm not surprised. This is what we envisioned for him is being this type of player. But you've got to put the work in, you've got to go through all the steps. You can't just say it and show up and it happens, you've got to train, train with a purpose and intent, and do it every day, and that's what he does."
Despite playing on a national championship-winning team as a senior at Michigan, Barner came into the league without a ton of fanfare. He was viewed more as a blocking tight end and a special teams player—his draft bio on NFL.com read "improving as a run blocker but is unlikely to offer much as a pass catcher"—and fell to the fourth round before being selected by the Seahawks. And after his two-touchdown performance on Sunday, Barner acknowledged “you kind of put yourself in that box, you put limitations on yourself" after a college career at Indiana and Michigan in which he never was a featured part of the offense.
But after developing in college then arriving in the NFL, Barner began to view his future through a different lens.
"Once I got to Indiana, people felt like I had a good chance to go to the NFL. Then once I got to Michigan, and what my role was at Michigan, developed me for the NFL," Barner said. "When I got here, I felt like I had a good combination of the blocking, the pass pro, the catching. That was just the goal, and I think in my draft call, I mentioned that and anything that I do I obviously want to be very talented at it. Again, I just feel like I have the talents to do that."
Barner has been around elite tight ends, whether through the Tight End U offseason summit put on by Travis Kelce, George Kittle and Greg Olsen, or through the players he is around throughout the seasons, and he believes that he can get to that level.
"Right now, I have a lot of work to do, but I think my ceiling is right up there with them," Barner said when asked about the talented tight ends in the NFC West. "I had a great game this week and people are starting to take notice, but there's a lot more for me to do."
As for what elite means to Barner at his position, he said, "When you watch the film and you see guys that do it play in and play out and the techniques. They're moving guys off the ball, not just position blocking people and well-rounded in all those phases as well. You have some tight ends that really don't mix it up in the trenches, you have guys that are more just blockers, and you also have a lot of tight ends that do both. The state of the NFL that it's in there's some very talented players in this league, especially in our division, too. The Rams have great tight ends. George (Kittle), (Trey) McBride, the Cardinals, we watch all this tape, right? And you see these guys on tape because we're playing a lot of the same teams in the division. There's a lot of great tight ends in the league, but I think, the guys that can do it all are those unicorns."
Barner may not be considered a tight end unicorn only five games into his second season, but with how quickly he has risen from a fourth-round pick considered to be a blocking tight end to a key piece of a successful NFL offense, that goal doesn't seem so farfetched.
"Generally speaking, our philosophy—and John Harbaugh taught me this—is we take pride in having a vision our players bigger than they have for themselves," Macdonald said when asked about Barner. "That provides growth, that provides stretch, and it's our job as coaches to see it and make it come to life. AJ has had high expectations for himself, he's had high goals, and he's not afraid to make it known and go chase it. You see a guy like Jaxon (Smith-Njigba) who's the same way. These guys envision themselves as premier players at their position. That's what AJ's trying to do, and I think he's on his way."
Browns QB Dillon Gabriel Makes Feelings Clear on Flacco Trade
Dillon Gabriel delivered his honest take on the Cleveland Browns trading Joe Flacco and the impact it will have on the quarterback room.
The Browns sent Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals on Tuesday for a fifth-round pick. Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski called the trade within the division “surprising.”
“The Joe trade took us by surprise,”
Flacco served as a steady veteran in a quarterback room with two rookie quarterbacks. He was the starter to open the season, going 1-3 before being replaced by Gabriel. The rookie said observing Flacco day-to-day helped him transition to being a pro.
“It’s not just one thing. I wouldn’t want to limit it to that. I think overall, his process and how he’s been about his business from Day 1,” Gabriel said. “How he approaches meetings, practice and taking care of his body. His daily routine. You pick up on that as you’re around people and try to make it your own. More importantly, the friendship and the person he is. Although there’s an age gap, just being able to connect and have those conversations, I appreciated it a lot.”
Dillon Gabriel Says Dynamic ‘Evolving’ in Browns QB Room
The Browns started training camp with two established veterans in Flacco and Kenny Pickett. Just five weeks into the season, the quarterback room is now headlined by Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. Bailey Zappe is
“Dynamic is always evolving, especially when there is change. But I think it goes back to us having the experience ourselves. You learn the best when you’re thrown into the fire a bit,” Gabriel said. “The more experience you gain — game after game, week after week — you’ll get better. And (Zappe) has played a bunch of ball as well.”
Gabriel made his first start last week in London against the Minnesota Vikings. He passed for 190 yards and two touchdowns and was serviceable in the 21-17 loss. However, the Browns still lacked explosive plays in the passing game. Gabriel completed 19 passes and most of those were short completions to running backs or tight ends.
Browns Undecided if Shedeur Sanders Will Be Backup
The Browns have yet to make an official decision on who will back up Gabriel. Sanders was the No. 2 quarterback on the unofficial depth chart
“Still working through all roster type of things. I always have to be mindful of our players and our players’ development and I want to make sure that I’m always doing what’s best for our players and, of course, our team,” Stefanski said. “But with young players, I’m always thinking about, last week making the change to Dillon, you have to think long and hard about that because these are young players that you’re so invested in their development. So I’ll let the week play out and make a decision later on that.”
Pro Bowler Denzel Ward has been impressed by both Gabriel and Sanders, expressing confidence in the rookies.
“I think both those guys are ready,” Ward said. “I think those are two guys capable of being the No. 1 quarterback.”
The Browns face the Pittsburgh Steelers this week on the road. Cleveland is a 6.5-point underdog.
