WATCH: Why AJ Barner’s 2025 tape has been massively underrated
· Yahoo Sports
Seattle Seahawks tight end AJ Barner has finally received some well-deserved recognition recently as one of the better tight ends in the NFL, but has been massively underrated for most of the offseason. TEs aren’t the most statistically driven position, but the fantasy football community has still found a way to make Barner’s stats seem too trivial to believe in.
When considering the resume he put on tape, though, many of the examples of what he does well came in massive moments, just like he did at Michigan. Let’s look at the second year highlights that led to him becoming a Super Bowl Champion.
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Notice all the short routes this reel shows, and how open they are. He’s not making contested catches and going for 50/50 balls. He’s getting wide open in the flats and picking up consistent 5-15 yard gains in a way that’s far too repeatable to overlook the next season. If defenses choose to play the Seahawks safe with Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Rashid Shaheed, Barner can put up numbers no one is predicting.
Barner’s college tape showed a similar role that’s more conducive to real-life success than fantasy, but that’s what they said about George Kittle at one point, too. It’s hard to stand out in Seattle with up-and-comers at nearly every position, but Barner is definitely ahead of the pack at his own position.
Although ESPN’s fantasy football community might have their reasons for putting him 26th out of 30 on this list, Barner is arguably a top-10 tight end in real life. His big play ability is underrated compared to the higher-touted athletic prospects. His blocking is legitimately elite, too, and he’s bigger than most of the receiving specialists. Even though Elijah Arroyo is also due for an increase in workload, he plays a much different style than Barner which shouldn’t take away from his snaps significantly. Both could end up as viable fantasy options at some point this season.
However, Barner offers more security and definition of his offensive role than his stats suggest. Their reasoning that the passing volume won’t be there might be the case, but you typically don’t have to be an 800-yard receiver to beat out the 10-20 ranked tight ends. Anyone recalling their mid-season struggles will remember that this tier of the position is based more on red zone luck than anything. There’s little rhyme or reason to predicting whether he’ll score more touchdowns than Hunter Henry, Pat Freiermuth or Mason Taylor, but he’s in just as good of a position to and has all the size and athleticism they do. If Brian Fleury and company get to work a bag of Barner deep shots in as a surprise, the former TEs coach will be getting far too much of what he wants as OC.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: WATCH: Why AJ Barner’s 2025 tape has been massively underrated