Career Debut Delayed at Least 1 Week for a Vikings Rookie
On Saturday, one day ahead of the contest against the New York Giants, the Minnesota Vikings ruled out rookie tight end Gavin Bartholomew. The injured first-year player finally returned to practice this week after missing nearly half a year with a back injury.
The Vikings announced on the team’s website on Saturday, “Minnesota (6-8) also announced it has downgraded the status of running back Ty Chandler and tight end Gavin Bartholomew for Week 16 at the New York Giants (2-12) from questionable to out. Chandler has been on Injured Reserve since suffering a knee injury in Week 1 at Chicago. His 21-day evaluation window opened in Week 14. Bartholomew has been on Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform all season. His practice window opened this week.”
No Gavin Bartholomew on Sunday
Bartholomew missed the entire summer program, including training camp and the preseason, due to his back injury. To start the season, he was placed on the Reserve/PUP list and hasn’t suited up on gameday.
The first encouraging sign this year surprisingly took place this week when head coach Kevin O’Connell announced that his young rookie would return to practice.
Given that Jonathan Greenard, Joshua Metellus, and Christian Darrisaw all landed on IR this week, there are some roster openings available. After his long break, however, Bartholomew will get a longer ramp-up period than just one limited practice on Wednesday and two full sessions on Thursday and Friday.
On Sunday, the Vikings will continue to feature top tight ends T.J. Hockenson as staples of the offense, while rookie Ben Yurosek is a rotational player.
Entering the offseason, the Vikings had only Hockenson and Oliver in the tight end room and after passing on the chance to add someone in free agency, selecting one in the draft was the obvious plan. Johnny Mundt departed for Jacksonville, and Nick Muse left in January to win a chip with the Eagles.
Bartholomew joined in the sixth round, followed by the additions of Yurosek and Bryson Nesbit as undrafted rookies.
He was knocked out of the competition early in the process, and Yurosek took full advantage. The rookie out of Georgia shared the TE3 duties with veteran Nick Vannett throughout the season until Vannett was signed by the Rams.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell was pleased with Bartholomew and said in May: “Gavin, you know, it’s always a position that sometimes between the film evaluation, the Pro Day, seeing the tape of it, you just hope they show up and look the way you hope they look. And Gavin definitely did.”
At the University of Pittsburgh, Bartholomew caught 105 passes for 1,257 yards and 11 scores.
Draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote about the eventual sixth-round pick: “Tight end prospect with a broad upper body, muscular arms and adequate demeanor to block. Bartholomew will primarily function as an in-line tight end but can be set in action as a move blocker when needed. He’s unspectacular as an athlete with soft hands and an average catch radius. His block aggression is admirable, but Bartholomew will need to get stronger and improve his block sustain to make a roster.”
The Vikings clearly saw some potential when they added him. He won’t be ready for Sunday, but he has two more chances to make his NFL debut — against the Detroit Lions on Christmas and the Green Bay Packers in the season finale.
Bartholomew is 22 years old.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.