Seattle, WA
Ted’s Talk: Predicting AJ Barner’s rookie season
The Seattle Seahawks were expected to utilize their new coaching staff’s college connections at some point during the NFL Draft. They made good on those expectations at pick No. 118 in the fourth round, selecting tight end AJ Barner from the University of Michigan. Barner – who played for new special teams coach Jay Harbaugh for the Wolverines – was primarily used as a blocking TE but could bring untapped potential in the passing game.
Athletic Profile/Comps
Relative Athletic Score (RAS)
Mockdraftable
Finally, a Seahawks draft pick that isn’t undersized! Well, except for starting the run on small hands…
Barner’s RAS is a little strange because outside of his height and 3-cone, nothing else is in the green. He also isn’t particularly fast with a 4.84 second 40. Yet, every composite category is “good” which results in a very good overall RAS.
Tyler Eifert is the best name on the RAS comp list but his score is quite a bit higher, so I don’t think that’s the best one to look at.
Mockdraftable only uses combine values and Barner did the testing at his pro day…making the Mockdraftable somewhat less instructive since they’re based off of less values.
However, the Mockdraftable comp with Drew Sample isn’t a bad one if we look at RAS.
Sample is stronger and faster, but Barner has a better 3-cone, vertical/broad jumps, and is taller. Sample is also similar to Barner in that he’s really only elite in one area (bench) yet is essentially “good” at everything to give him a high overall RAS.
Just for fun, let’s look at some of the more recent Seahawks tight ends and see how Barner stacks up.
As you can see, Barner is actually more athletic than their past draft picks at around the same size. He was also taken in basically the same range as both Dissly and Parkinson were fellow fourth-round picks while Vannett was a third-rounder.
I still wasn’t really satisfied with these comps so I spent way more time than I’d like to admit flipping through my mental Rolodex of tight ends to try and find one that was closer, at least athletically. Finally, I found one with Anthony Fasano.
Again, it’s not perfect but at least gives us the level of athlete we’re looking at with Barner. Fasano played 12 years in the NFL and had 36 career TDs. He only eclipsed 350 receiving yards in a season 3 times, maxing out at 528 yards. Fasano was a reliable safety blanket, though, and I’d definitely take that for Barner’s career.
Gut reaction to the pick
As soon as I saw the pick, I thought “makes sense.”
Like Seattle’s other fourth-round pick, Tyrice Knight, some thought this was a round too early for Barner. There was a little run on TEs in the fourth round with Ja’Tavion Sanders (No. 101), Theo Johnson (No. 107), and Erick All (No. 115) getting drafted prior to Seattle making a pick – remember that they originally had pick No. 102 but traded down.
Maybe the Seahawks liked those other TEs as well and felt that they had to pick Barner to avoid a shelf at the position. As was the case with Knight, however, it may be that this was a player Seattle was targeting with other TEs available at the time that were higher on consensus boards such as Cade Stover and Jared Wiley who both went later in the fourth round. That’s a cluster of six total TEs drafted in the fourth round, if you’re counting…so maybe Seattle didn’t reach after all?
The Seahawks had an opening at the TE position after losing Will Dissly (Los Angeles Chargers) and Colby Parkinson (Los Angeles Rams) to free agency in the offseason and adding Pharaoh Brown on a one-year deal. Barner provides depth and will probably assume the blocking TE role that Dissly held by the 2025 season at the latest.
Barner’s calling card will be his ability to block, but that can also make him a sneaky addition to the pass game.
The simple stuff done right in the redzone from AJ Barner. He gets a good release and slips right behind the backers. Notice how well he is keeping pace with JJ McCarthy on the roll out and presents a big target. pic.twitter.com/crXTUaLrQq
— Thomas Martinez (@BoltsDraftTalk) January 20, 2024
Plays like these could make him a QB’s best friend if the primary reads are covered. All in all, he’s likely the Dissly replacement on a rookie contract. That’s a fine use of a fourth-round pick.
Rookie season prediction
I’m not expecting Barner to have a significant role in the offense as a rookie unless Noah Fant or Pharaoh Brown are injured. Fant is the best pass-catching TE and Brown the best (for now) run-blocking option. Even UDFA Jack Westover – if he makes the team – is potentially a better option to catch passes.
Since Brown is only on a one-year contract, however, it will be important to get Barner meaningful snaps in run-heavy sets to groom him to take over that role next season. Barner was never a big producer in college with 610 yards and 5 TDs total in his 4-year college career. He’ll have few opportunities in his rookie season and will reel in 12 catches for 125 yards and 1 sneaky TD. More importantly, Barner will be a mainstay on special teams units and become a trusted part of Jay Harbaugh’s units.
Seattle, WA
Jaden Schwartz hat trick leads Seattle Kraken to 4-2 win over Kings
SEATTLE – Jaden Schwartz scored his fifth career hat trick and the fourth hat trick in Seattle Kraken history in a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
Joey Daccord made 17 of his 28 saves in the third period, and Schwartz scored on an empty net with 1:10 left to play to clinch the victory for the Kraken. Schwartz joins Jordan Eberle (11/14/21 vs. Buffalo), Jared McCann (1/14/23 at Chicago), and Brandon Montour (10/29/24 at Montreal) as players with hat tricks for the Kraken.
It was the fifth regular season hat trick of Schwartz’s career, along with two playoff hat tricks, all while playing with the St. Louis Blues.
The first line of Schwartz, Matty Beniers and Kaapo Kakko continue to rack up points together. The trio combined for seven points on the night as all three players had a significant hand in the victory.
“Great to see Jaden get the hat trick,” head coach Dan Bylsma said. “And it can’t be understated, the line of Matty Beniers and Jaden and Kakko, what they keep doing for us, night in and night out. They get the first two goals, but good to see Schwartzy get the hat trick there at the end.”
Just 28 seconds into the game, Schwartz got Seattle on the board. The Kings couldn’t get the puck out of their own zone as it fell onto the stick of Kakko. Schwartz slipped the puck inside the right post by the pad of a sliding Darcy Kuemper for a 1-0 lead.
A high-stick penalty to Beniers minutes later allowed the Kings to answer back on the power play. Right off the offensive zone face-off, the Kings won the puck as Adrian Kempe found space on the back post to finish a pass from Anže Kopitar for the tying goal.
But the line of Schwartz, Beniers and Kakko continued to dominate play over the opening 10 minutes.
A massive hit from Joshua Mahura against Warren Foegele at the Seattle blue line sent play into chaos. It also launched the Kraken on a rush chance as Schwartz scored his second goal of the period off a pass from Beniers on a 2-on-1 break for a 2-1 Kraken lead. The Kings got caught trying to engage Mahura for the hit on Foegele and left defenseman Brandt Clarke and Kuemper hung out to dry.
“We wouldn’t have scored if he didn’t do that,” Schwartz said of Mahura’s hit. “
Said Bylsma: “I thought the hit by Josh was, you don’t want to say it’s a turning point in the game, but it was, I think, a huge statement hit and getting the goal right after it, you know, was a sign to everybody we were in the match.”
Seattle was unable to escape the period with the lead, however. Defenseman Brandon Montour shoved Trevor Moore into Daccord, who flailed in vain to make a stop on Jordan Spence’s shot from distance. The Kraken bench appeared to consider challenging the play for goaltender interference, but elected against it as the contact was due to Montour’s actions.
Seattle re-gained the lead less than two minutes into the second period. Chandler Stephenson flashed across the front of the net to chip an Oliver Bjorkstrand shot-pass by Kuemper for a 3-2 Kraken advantage.
The lead held despite a heavy push from the Kings in the final period due to the play of Daccord.
Daccord denied Foegele on a short-handed 2-on-0 breakaway chance early in the third period to keep the one-goal advantage. The Kings had a 17-1 advantage in shots on goal in the third, with Schwartz’s empty-net tally serving as the only shot Seattle managed in the period.
“Every time we get a power play, I’m just like, ‘hey, just be ready in case they get a chance.’ Because every once in a while, you know, get a bad bounce, bad luck, someone makes a mistake, and, you know, it’s hockey, it’s going to happen, and sometimes you’re going to get a chance against and I just try to be ready for them,” Daccord said. “And you know, it’s my job to make big saves for the team when the team needs it. So when I get the opportunity, and then I’m able to follow through and execute it, it feels really good. Honestly, I was fired up after that save. And, yeah, just feels really good to get a big win at home.”
Schwartz had two chances at the empty net, with the first hitting the left post and staying out. Kakko then managed to win a loose puck and toss it ahead to Schwartz for his third of the night.
“After I hit the post we had a couple good blocks, Joey had a couple timely saves,” Schwartz said. “Kaapo made a great play (to get me the puck), so I guess my teammates did a good job of bailing me out for missing that. It was just a team effort all-around. Guys were laying it on the line tonight. It was a fun game.”
Kakko picked up an assist on all three of Schwartz’s goals for Seattle. Kakko now has 13 points in 14 games (four goals, nine assists) played with the Kraken since the trade last month with the New York Rangers.
What’s next:
The Kraken will continue their home stand with a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinée against the Buffalo Sabres at 1 p.m on Monday.
The Source: Original FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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Seattle, WA
Oregon man who kidnapped a Seattle woman and kept her in a makeshift cell gets life sentence
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man has been sentenced to life in federal prison after being convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two women in separate instances, including locking one in a cinder block cell.
Negasi Zuberi, 31, was sentenced Friday in federal court in Medford, Portland television station KGW reported. A federal jury convicted him in October on charges of kidnapping, transportation for criminal sexual activity, being a felon in possession of a weapon and attempting to break out of jail when he tried to smash through his cell window in August 2023.
“This is not a man who deserves to be around others,” a victim said at the hearing. “He shows blatant disregard and lack of care for human life.”
The Associated Press does not usually name people who have been sexually assaulted.
“Negasi Zuberi is a serial predator who committed acts of evil. He hunted women,” assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey Sweet said before Zuberi was sentenced.
In July 2023, Zuberi solicited a woman to engage in prostitution along Aurora Avenue in Seattle, authorities said. He told the woman he was an undercover officer, showed her a badge, pointed a Taser at her and placed her in handcuffs and leg irons before putting her in the back of his vehicle.
He then drove hundreds of miles to his home in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and locked the woman in a cinder block cell in his garage, according to the FBI. After the woman escaped after repeatedly banging on the cell door until it broke open, Zuberi fled and was arrested in Reno, Nevada.
Federal authorities later linked him to a second kidnapping in May 2023, in which he was convicted of abducting a woman outside a Klamath Falls bar. Prosecutors said he threatened her with a Taser, handcuffed her in the back of his vehicle and sexually assaulted her.
Zuberi had pleaded not guilty and continued to claim he was innocent during the sentencing hearing.
He waived his right to testify during the 11-day trial. He attempted to testify on the trial’s last day but was denied because he earlier waived that right.
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