AJ Barner scored in the Super Bowl to conclude a solid second professional season. Seattle’s offense could function a bit differently with Kenneth Walker III 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 You Draft AJ Barner in Fantasy Football?
As of early September, PFN’s Free Fantasy Mock Draft Simulator has Barner with an ADP of 206.3. That’s about the 21st round. He may or may not get drafted in your league based on that. PFN’s fantasy experts Kyle Soppe and Jason Katz are a bit higher on him than the consensus. They have him as the player ranked 178th in their fantasy football rankings. That comes out to TE23, a low-end TE2, but realistically a high-end TE3, with a PPR projected average of 7.97 points per game.
Barner was surprisingly good last year. He was okay as a rookie, TE32, but last season he was TE14 and finished the year with 52 catches for 519 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns. He had a handful of games where he was able to go off from a fantasy perspective. There was a little bit of inconsistency, but I feel like that’s standard for a lot of tight ends outside of the top 5 or 6.
Looking at the Seahawks roster in particular, it wouldn’t surprise me if Barner ends up second on the team in targets, behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba, assuming he stays healthy. As for the rest of the competition, Rashid Shaheed has tremendous return value and was really productive with the Saints. Some of that production wasn’t quite there in Seattle last season, so he’s coming back, and I don’t know what that’s going to be like. Cooper Kupp’s best days are behind him. He’s still a decent contributor, but I feel like Barner has the chance to surpass him as a reliable target for Sam Darnold this year.
As a TE23, give or take, he’s a fringe draftable player. I think Barner has the potential to be a top-15 tight end. Maybe I’d go as far as to say he has top-10 tight end fantasy potential. And yes, I know Elijah Arroyo, the second-round pick from 2025, is in the mix as well. But I think Barner, with what he showed last year, is the best tight end on the Seahawks roster right now. I like him a lot. With the ADP of 206.3, I am saying yes to drafting him in your fantasy football leagues this season.
FANTASY RANKINGS: PFN’s FREE Fantasy PPR, Half-PPR, and Non-PPR Rankings
AJ Barner’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
Analysis provided by PFN Analyst Kyle Soppe.
I’m OK with the thought process that lands some on Barner as a sleeper option this season, but I’m certainly willing to be late rather than early to that party.
The idea is simple: after Smith-Njigba, the target hierarchy for the reigning champs is very much TBD. Barner is in his third season with the team, has caught 77.4% of his targets, and has found paydirt 10 times despite a limited role.
He’s valuable to the ‘Hawks, but without much proof of high-end target-earning capabilities, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze in fantasy circles as a part of this run-centric offense until proven otherwise.
START PREPARING: PFN’s FREE Fantasy Draft Simulator
Where Barner Ranks Among 2026 Tight Ends
- Mark Andrews | BAL
- Chig Okonkwo | WAS
- Hunter Henry | NE
- Brenton Strange | JAX
- Dalton Schultz | HOU
- AJ Barner | SEA
- Greg Dulcich | MIA
- Kenyon Sadiq | NYJ
- Terrance Ferguson | LAR
- Oronde Gadsden II | LAC
- T.J. Hockenson | MIN
Want to dive in more? PFN's Complete PPR Tight End Rankings are updated weekly.
