Ex-Vikings Playmaker Heads to the Champs
With any luck, he’ll stick around long enough to grab a Super Bowl ring.
Ex-Vikings Playmaker Heads to the Champs
Robert Tonyan signed with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday, an ex-Minnesota Vikings tight end who will hit the champions’ practice squad.
The Chiefs are fighting for the No. 1 seed in the AFC and their third consecutive Super Bowl triumph. The Chiefs’ main social media account tweeted Monday, “We have signed TE Robert Tonyan to the Practice Squad.”
This is the Chiefs’ TE room with the Tonyan addition:
- Travis Kelce
- Noah Gray
- Anthony Firkser (Practice Squad)
- Robert Tonyan (Practice Squad)
- Baylor Cupp (Injured Reserve)
- Peyton Hendershot (Injured Reserve)
- Jared Wiley (Injured Reserve)
Tonyan also auditioned for the Washington Commanders’ roster one week ago, though no contract materialized. Instead, he’ll get a more realistic crack at a Lombardi Trophy.
During the spring and summer, the Minnesota Vikings required tight end depth because TE1 T.J. Hockenson faced a long ACL recovery. So, the purple team signed Robert Tonyan, a man on deck for tentative TE2 or TE3 duty in the Twin Cities. The plan never panned out, and Tonyan exited stage left in October.
Tonyan has played 33 special teams snaps and 13 on offense so far in 2024, and Minnesota ran out of PS elevations for the 30-year-old. A player can only be called up from the practice squad thrice before needing to join the 53-man roster.
The veteran tight end was hampered by back spasms during the summer, canceling his preseason participation and allowing fellow TEs like Johnny Mundt and Nick Muse to surpass him on the depth chart. The Vikings even released him amid roster trimdowns in late August but swiftly added him to the PS.
Tonyan encountered a quiet season with the Chicago Bears in 2023, receiving just 17 targets in 17 games while banking 11 receptions for 112 yards. Before 2023, Tonyan spent five seasons in Green Bay, with 1,437 yards on 148 catches for 17 touchdowns in 68 games as a Packer. At times, he was one of Aaron Rodgers’ favorite targets.
He was the most recent in a long list of Packers defectors to join the Vikings in the last few years, including Bashaud Breeland, Chandon Sullivan, Za’Darius Smith, Dean Lowry, Aaron Jones — and Tonyan.
The Chiefs have the NFL’s second-best odds of winning the Super Bowl in January (+450), behind only the Detroit Lions (+390).
Tonyan will turn 31 in April.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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