Who Should I Start? AJ Barner or Elijah Arroyo

Monday, January 26, 12:57 PM

Seattle Seahawks tight end AJ Barner has been very quiet in the team's two playoff wins, as he caught just two of his three targets for 13 yards in Sunday's 31-27 win over the division-rival Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship. It was better than Barner's donut for fantasy managers in the blowout win over the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round, but it still was a disappointment. Quarterback Sam Darnold targeted Barner only three times among his 36 pass attempts on the day in a game that featured plenty of offense on both sides. The 23-year-old second-year tight end was the TE14 in half-PPR scoring during the regular season, catching 52 of his 68 targets for 519 yards and six touchdowns, and he remains mostly reliant on finding the end zone for fantasy production. For the Super Bowl in two weeks, Barner could face competition for targets from rookie Elijah Arroyo, who was a healthy scratch on Sunday after coming off Injured Reserve last week.

Sunday, January 25, 5:15 PM

Seattle Seahawks rookie tight end Elijah Arroyo (coach's decision) is officially inactive for Sunday's NFC Championship against the Los Angeles Rams. Seattle activated Arroyo from injured reserve on Saturday, and the fact that he didn't have an injury designation seemed to indicate that he would play. In the end, though, he'll be a healthy scratch as the Seahawks look to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl. Arroyo was held to a modest 15 catches and 179 yards during the regular season, and it's been more than a month since he last played in an NFL game, so his absence on Sunday is not necessarily surprising. AJ Barner will continue to lead the tight end room against the Rams, while Eric Saubert and Nick Kallerup round out the depth chart.