AJ Barner scored in the Super Bowl to conclude a solid second professional season. Seattle’s offense could function a bit differently with Kennther Walker in Kansas City and Zach Charbonnet banged up, but does that mean fantasy football managers should be looking at the tight end for a spike season?
Should I Draft AJ Barner in Fantasy Football?
He was efficient in 2025 and upped his yards per catch to double digits. Barner gives the Seahawks everything they need from the position; it just doesn’t happen to matter for us on any sort of consistent basis.
He’s going to remain on the field, and that’s something to at least consider come midseason when bye weeks and injuries are greater factors than they are today. In Weeks 8-10, the defending champs play the Bears, Cardinals, and Raiders, a run that could see multiple players from this offense experience their 2026 peak.
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Outside of that, you’re asking for a lot, and this isn’t a profile that needs to be drafted. No team put the ball in the belly of their running backs in scoring position more than the Seahawks last season, and that mutes the quickest way for Barner to elevate to the top-12 at the position.
We remember the touchdown in the Super Bowl, but he earned seven targets during the three-game playoff run. He wasn’t a plan of the plan to open the season (nine September targets), and a nine-game scoring drought in the middle of a season where most things went better than expected is a red flag.
It’s poor roster construction to leave the draft with multiple TEs, so there’s no need to dig this deep. If a Seattle pass catcher is going to break out in 2026, give me Rashid Shaheed and his explosive skill set.
Kyle Soppe’s TE Fantasy Rankings 2026
- Trey McBride | ARI
- Brock Bowers | LV
- Colston Loveland | CHI
- Tucker Kraft | GB
- Tyler Warren | IND
- George Kittle | SF
- Sam LaPorta | DET
- Harold Fannin Jr. | CLE
- Isaiah Likely | NYG
- Kyle Pitts Sr. | ATL
- Juwan Johnson | NO
- Jake Ferguson | DAL
- Mark Andrews | BAL
- Dallas Goedert | PHI
- Travis Kelce | KC
- Hunter Henry | NE
- Chig Okonkwo | WAS
- Dalton Kincaid | BUF
- Dalton Schultz | HOU
- Brenton Strange | JAX
- Kenyon Sadiq | NYJ
- Terrance Ferguson | LAR
- Greg Dulcich | MIA
- Evan Engram | DEN
- Oronde Gadsden II | LAC
- AJ Barner | SEA
- Cade Otton | TB
- Gunnar Helm | TEN
- T.J. Hockenson | MIN
- Theo Johnson | NYG
- Mason Taylor | NYJ
- Jake Tonges | SF
