Like Saubert and other players, Macdonald heard in offseason conversations with Barner a player who was committed to taking his game to another level.
"That was our conversation at the end of the year on what we felt like he could become, and he shared the same feeling," Macdonald said. "The way he attacked the offseason, I'm not surprised. This is what we envisioned for him is being this type of player. But you've got to put the work in, you've got to go through all the steps. You can't just say it and show up and it happens, you've got to train, train with a purpose and intent, and do it every day, and that's what he does."
Despite playing on a national championship-winning team as a senior at Michigan, Barner came into the league without a ton of fanfare. He was viewed more as a blocking tight end and a special teams player—his draft bio on NFL.com read "improving as a run blocker but is unlikely to offer much as a pass catcher"—and fell to the fourth round before being selected by the Seahawks. And after his two-touchdown performance on Sunday, Barner acknowledged “you kind of put yourself in that box, you put limitations on yourself" after a college career at Indiana and Michigan in which he never was a featured part of the offense.
But after developing in college then arriving in the NFL, Barner began to view his future through a different lens.
"Once I got to Indiana, people felt like I had a good chance to go to the NFL. Then once I got to Michigan, and what my role was at Michigan, developed me for the NFL," Barner said. "When I got here, I felt like I had a good combination of the blocking, the pass pro, the catching. That was just the goal, and I think in my draft call, I mentioned that and anything that I do I obviously want to be very talented at it. Again, I just feel like I have the talents to do that."
Barner has been around elite tight ends, whether through the Tight End U offseason summit put on by Travis Kelce, George Kittle and Greg Olsen, or through the players he is around throughout the seasons, and he believes that he can get to that level.
"Right now, I have a lot of work to do, but I think my ceiling is right up there with them," Barner said when asked about the talented tight ends in the NFC West. "I had a great game this week and people are starting to take notice, but there's a lot more for me to do."
As for what elite means to Barner at his position, he said, "When you watch the film and you see guys that do it play in and play out and the techniques. They're moving guys off the ball, not just position blocking people and well-rounded in all those phases as well. You have some tight ends that really don't mix it up in the trenches, you have guys that are more just blockers, and you also have a lot of tight ends that do both. The state of the NFL that it's in there's some very talented players in this league, especially in our division, too. The Rams have great tight ends. George (Kittle), (Trey) McBride, the Cardinals, we watch all this tape, right? And you see these guys on tape because we're playing a lot of the same teams in the division. There's a lot of great tight ends in the league, but I think, the guys that can do it all are those unicorns."
Barner may not be considered a tight end unicorn only five games into his second season, but with how quickly he has risen from a fourth-round pick considered to be a blocking tight end to a key piece of a successful NFL offense, that goal doesn't seem so farfetched.
"Generally speaking, our philosophy—and John Harbaugh taught me this—is we take pride in having a vision our players bigger than they have for themselves," Macdonald said when asked about Barner. "That provides growth, that provides stretch, and it's our job as coaches to see it and make it come to life. AJ has had high expectations for himself, he's had high goals, and he's not afraid to make it known and go chase it. You see a guy like Jaxon (Smith-Njigba) who's the same way. These guys envision themselves as premier players at their position. That's what AJ's trying to do, and I think he's on his way."