The Vikings Are Getting Really Creative at QB
One might think three quarterbacks are enough for a single team’s roster at the beginning of June, but like Judas Priest said, you’ve got another thing comin’.
And for the Minnesota Vikings purposes, that could be XFL standout passer Jordan Ta’amu.
The Vikings Are Getting Really Creative at QB
The Score’s Jordan Schultz tweeted Thursday, “QB Jordan Ta’amu is working out for the Vikings today, source tells The Score. Still just 25 years old, the 6-3, 214-pound Ta’amu earned XFL Offensive Player of the Year honors this past season for the DC Defenders.”
An undrafted NFL commodity in 2019, Ta’amu initially latched onto the Houston Texans for three weeks before regular season roster cuts. He’s since spent time — albeit brief periods — with the Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, Chiefs again, Lions again, Washington Commanders, and Carolina Panthers before finding homes with the XFL.
In the last three years, Ta’amu has played for three XFL teams, the St. Louis BattleHawks, Tampa Bay Bandits, and most recently, the Defenders, as mentioned by Schultz.
He sliced and diced the XFL for 17 touchdowns in 10 games this season, only accounting for just 3 interceptions. His Defenders lost in the XFL Championship, 35-26, to the Arlington Renegades on May 13th. Along the way, Ta’amu won the XFL’s Offensive Player of the Year award — probably why the 25-year-old is getting a look from the Vikings.
Ta’amu possesses prototypical quarterback size at 6’3″ and 215 pounds. He attended Ole Miss in college and tabulated a 30-touchdown to 12-interception split in 19 games with the Rebels.
Now, on the Vikings side of operations — the club doesn’t really need Ta’amu. On the whole, it’s unlikely that he will blossom into the next big thing as an unpolished XFL gem. He would’ve caught on in the NFL by now if so. The Vikings employ Kirk Cousins for at least one more season at QB1, Nick Mullens at QB2, and presumably rookie Jaren Hall at QB3. If Minnesota signed Ta’amu after the workout, he’d probably just become a roster cut later this summer.
But because he’s the top quarterback in an exciting upstart football promotion, he’ll garner fan attention, which is fair.
Ta’amu said before the XFL title game about his skillset, “I took little parts from different areas to help me become the person I am today, if it’s all the way back from high school to junior college to Ole Miss. Learning from Patrick Mahomes how to be a leader, how to take every day just being yourself and at the same time preparing every day as a champion. That’s what Mahomes did. That’s what I learned a lot from whenever I was with them.”
He led the XFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns this season. Ta’amu was teammates with wide receivers D.K. Metcalf and A.J. Brown at Ole Miss.
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Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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