Seattle Seahawks TE AJ Barner Leaning On Former Opponent Adjusting to Ryan Grubb's Offense

RENTON, Wash. - While a hamstring injury suffered during pre-draft training prevented AJ Barner from participating in Friday's first rookie minicamp session, the Seattle Seahawks rookie tight end has an interesting resource at his disposal to help learn a new playbook from a former adversary.

Just four months after Barner's Michigan Wolverines captured a national title defeating the Washington Huskies, he took the field as teammates with fellow tight end Jack Westover, who caught five passes for 42 yards starting for the opposition in the College Football Playoff championship game. Though the fourth-round pick will enter the league with higher expectations than his undrafted counterpart, the two developed a strong rapport over the past few months gearing up for the draft.

In particular, Barner and Westover started to build a friendship at the NFL combine in February, and that connection has carried over into rookie minicamp with the latter helping his new teammate learn a new playbook under offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who coached Westover at Washington.

"It's sick. Jack's my guy," Barner smiled when asked about becoming teammates with Westover months after competing against him for a title. "We were able to hang out during the pre-draft process and just chop it up, talk ball, and get to know each other too. He knows Seattle well, so even outside of football, getting the lay of the land, it will be great to be with him."

Coaching in the NFL for the first time, Grubb's offense in Seattle won't be completely identical to the one he deployed in his two years at Montlake, but much of the terminology and principles likely will be similar. This creates a bit of a built in advantage out of the gate for Westover, who developed from a walk on for the Huskies into an Honorable Mention All-Pac 12 performer, catching 46 passes for 433 yards and four touchdowns as a senior last season.

Formerly a basketball player in high school who had to put on muscle early in his time at Washington, Westover also developed into a reliable blocker in Grubb's offense, forming a fun one-two punch with Devin Culp at the tight end position for the Huskies.

Interestingly, the 6-6 Barner isn't joining the Seahawks as a complete novice to Grubb's offense either. Before transferring to Michigan last season, he spent three years at Indiana, including his first two seasons with offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan, who was on the staff with former Washington coach Kalen Deboer in 2019 and ran a similar system before reuniting with Deboer and joining forces with Grubb as tight end coach in 2022.

"When I was at Indiana, there were a lot of ties in my first offense to this one," Barner commented. "But I'm definitely going to lean on Jack, Coach Mack [Brown], the veterans that are in that room and just soak up as much information as I can."

Due to those aforementioned ties, Barner expects to see some carry over in Seattle's current offensive scheme to what he played in as a freshman and sophomore with the Hoosiers, which will help ease the transition a bit. But with Westover actually playing for Grubb the past two years and knowing his terminology inside and out, he's turned to him early in the process as both of them acclimate to the NFL and their new team.

Much like the coaching staff under Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks reconstructed their tight end room this offseason. While veteran playmaker Noah Fant returned on a two-year deal shortly after the start of free agency, Will Dissly and Colby Parkinson departed for Los Angeles, signing deals with the Chargers and Rams respectively and creating significant voids at the position.

To help offset Dissly and Parkinson leaving, Seattle did sign former New England tight end Pharaoh Brown, who should help the team's run game as an inline blocker. But away from him and Fant, there's minimal experience on the roster, as Brady Russell and Tyler Mabry have play less than 40 combined regular season snaps on offense, leaving question marks on the depth chart, creating an opportunity for both rookies to vie not only for roster spots in August, but potential roles on Sundays early on offense and special teams.

Barner only caught 64 passes and five touchdowns in his college career, but he logged over 500 special teams snaps and with coach Jay Harbaugh coming to Seattle after being at Michigan, he should be in the mix for immediate playing time on kick and punt coverage units as well as return teams and field goal teams. Aside from his receiving and after the catch ability, Westover also has ample special teams experience, including 47 snaps on punt coverage as a senior, which will aid his cause vying for a spot as an undrafted rookie.

Expecting to be back in action soon, maybe even as early as the Seahawks first OTAs next week, Barner looks forward to learning from and also competing against Westover while getting his feet underneath him in Grubb's high-octane attack after getting the best of his new play caller in January.

"It was a great game with two great teams, two great programs. That's what happens when you get good people and good players together, you know there's going to be great competition. I just can't wait to work with him."