Vikings Rookie Has a Chip on His Shoulder
The Minnesota Vikings will need more contributions from rookies this season than in years past. The club drafted just five men during the 2025 NFL Draft, so it can’t afford too many strikeouts.
One Vikings rookie has a chip on his shoulder, he says.
So when rookie tight end Gavin Bartholomew told reporters last week that he has a “chip on his shoulder,” fans interpreted the declaration as music to their ears.
The Pittsburgh rookie evidently relishes the underdog role and is hungry to put his thumbprint on the NFL.
Gavin Bartholomew Has a “Chip on His Shoulder”
Vikings rookie minicamp got underway last Friday, and some, like Penn State linebacker Kobe King, stood out with splashy plays.
Media members also spoke to rookies after practices, and one caught up with Bartholomew, a 6th-Round selection from the University of Pittsburgh.
Bartholomew explained the bravado: “I was an underlooked kid coming out of high school. Pittsburgh was my only Power 5 offer. I’ve kinda just had that whole chip on the shoulder mentality throughout my college career, and it’s going to stick with me.”
Thankfully, that’s the attitude he’ll need to thrive in the pros.
A Clear Path to TE3
Bartholomew could also benefit from advantageous roster placement. Before the draft, the Vikings curiously employed just two tight ends: T.J. Hockenson and Josh Oliver. Minnesota typically has four heading into an ordinary draft, but it apparently brushed that habit aside, picking Bartholomew late in the event.
No veterans other than Hockenson and Oliver live on the Vikings’ depth chart. He can shoot his shot and reasonably expect to earn the TE3 job. In fact, if he does not, it might be a little weird.
It would have meant that an undrafted tight end surpassed him on the depth chart or that Minnesota signed a free-agent tight end.
The Competitors
Bartholomew will battle a wee bit of rookie competition, though, this summer at training camp and in the preseason. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah signed Georgia’s Ben Yurosek and Bryson Nesbit from North Carolina.
Yurosek notably played collegiate ball at Stanford and Georgia, so his scouting report was known a bit more than Nesbit’s, for example.
Some Vikings fans and analysts expect big things from Yurosek, meaning it will be up to Bartholomew to stave off any pushes for the TE3 post.
Johnny Mundt, Nick Muse Gone
How’d we get here? Simple — the Philadelphia Eagles stole tight end Nick Muse from the practice squad late last season, and for his troubles, he earned a Super Bowl ring with that franchise. Muse was similar to Bartholomew — the Vikings drafted him from the late rounds in 2022.
Muse isn’t coming back anytime soon unless the Eagles kick him to the curb. The primary TE3 from the last few seasons, Johnny Mundt, electively departed via free agency, following assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinksi, now an offensive coordinator, and quarterback Nick Mullens to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jaguars fired up the purple trifecta — adding Udinski, Mullens, and Mundt this offseason.
With Muse and Mundt gone, the job is for Bartholomew’s taking.
Star Tribune on Bartholomew
Star Tribune‘s Emily Leiker opined on Bartholomew as a Vikings newcomer last week.
She wrote, “Bartholomew likely will need to fill Mundt’s on-field role in quick order, too, as the Vikings favor offensive packages with multiple tight ends. They ranked 13th in the league last season for rushing attempts with two or more tight ends on the field and ran 12-personnel (one running back, two tight ends) on 25.3% of snaps, according to Sports Info Solutions.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem for Bartholomew, whose early contributions at Pittsburgh meant “a lot” to Vikings staff in his evaluation, General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said April 26.”
FantasyLife‘s Thor Nystrom found a comp for Bartholomew before the draft: Kansas City Chiefs tight end Peyton Hendershot.
Leiker added, “As a freshman, Bartholomew caught 28-of-29 targets for 326 yards and four touchdowns. He had the fifth-most yards on the team and was tied for fourth-most receptions. Vikings wide receiver and 2023 first-round pick Jordan Addison, who spent two seasons at Pitt before transferring to USC, led in both categories.”
“The Vikings added two other tight ends as undrafted free agents: Georgia’s Ben Yurosek and North Carolina’s Bryson Nesbitt. Both are likely to stay with the team considering the slim number the Vikings have at the position. O’Connell said all three could compete to fill the TE3 spot vacated by Mundt. Bartholomew, though, seems to have the leg up.”
Organized team activities (OTAs) get underway for Bartholomew and the Vikings on May 27th, where he can further display the chip on his shoulder.
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