CHARLOTTE—This season, second-year tight end AJ Barner has become an important piece to Seahawks offense, whether it be run blocking, pass catching or showing off his ability to gain a yard or two on Seattle’s version of the “tush push,” which has affectionately been named the “bard yard” by fans. On Seattle’s fourth-and-short play, Barner has also started succeeding in getting opposing defenses to jump offside with his hard count, something he was able to do on Sunday.
“I’m a vocal person,” Barner said. “I can have a loud voice, so that might help a little bit. And the push that our O line gets, people know that it’s coming and it’s tough to stop. So I think that helps too.”
Quarterback Background Paying Dividends
Barner said his limited quarterback background from freshman to junior year of high school may have helped with that.
“I grew up playing quarterback,” he said. “I was pretty lousy at quarterback, not going to lie. My team went 0-9 freshman year, but we made the final four my senior year. I wasn’t the quarterback, but [it’s] something that I’ve done before and something that I’ve worked on. So, it’s really a simple play at the end of the day.”
His willingness and ability to be so effective in so many ways is exactly why coach Mike Macdonald calls Barner a, “spark plug” for the team.
When Barner entered the league, he wanted to make it known that he could be more than the “blocking tight end” label that was placed upon him during the draft process.
“I think it’s similar to Jax (Jaxon Smith-Njigba). You want to have visions for your players bigger than they have for themselves,” Macdonald said. “And these two guys, to their credit, this is their vision for their game, on where they wanted to take it from the day they stepped in the door or that we met them. All he’s done is attack it and make it come to life. I know we always felt like he could be a complete tight end in our league at an elite level, and he is on his way to being that. So especially in this offense, to have that threat where he’s not just an extra tackle or whatever out there. That’s big time. That’s big for us.”
On Sunday, Barner finished the game with 3 catches for 43 yards and one touchdown, with one of those receptions being a catch on third-and-9 to set up a Zach Charbonnet touchdown.
“AJ Barner has been coming up clutch all year,” Smith-Njigba said. “We’ve got a lot of elite guys across the board, so it’s awesome to use your playmakers to set up what’s next.”
“We all know what AJ is capable of and I am so confident in him as a quarterback,” Sam Darnold said. “Obviously, he does a lot of stuff that people don’t see, things that aren’t going to show up in the stat sheet. He does a great job in the pass game as well when we need him to. He stepped up in a big way for us there today.”
Season Numbers Reflect Continued Growth
On the season as a whole, Barner has six touchdowns and 50 receptions for 505 yards.
“He’s never satisfied,” receiver Dareke Young said. “He wants all he can get, and we love that about him.”
Ari Horton, Seahawks.com Writer