Gavin Bartholomew caught his first career NFL pass Saturday, and the Schuylkill County native made it count, turning a short screen into the play that set up the Minnesota Vikings’ only points in a preseason loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
On the final Minnesota drive of the first half, quarterback Carson Wentz hit Bartholomew on a screen pass off the left side of the offensive line. Bartholomew, facing Wentz, collected the ball, turned and picked up a block from a lineman and managed to wind his way out of bounds, saving the Vikings a timeout as the clock ticked down to 31 seconds.
The 15-yard reception moved the Vikings further into scoring position. Will Reichard drilled a 52-yard field goal three plays later to finish the drive and half for Minnesota. They were the only points in the Vikings 13-3 loss to the Ravens.
The catch was Bartholomew’s first as a pro in any capacity. The 2025 sixth-round pick out of Pitt missed his entire rookie season on the physically-unable-to-perform list with a back injury and didn’t appear in a game until this preseason. In the Vikings’ opener against the Giants on Aug. 15 – his first NFL action of any kind – he played 18 offensive snaps but was targeted just once and came away without a catch. Saturday’s grab against the Ravens, two games into his career, was the first time the ball actually found his hands in an NFL uniform.
It came on the heels of a strong stretch in camp. Two days earlier, in a joint practice against Baltimore, Bartholomew hauled in a red-zone touchdown pass from Kyler Murray, grouped alongside Jordan Addison and Demond Claiborne among the day’s scorers.
Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips has praised Bartholomew throughout camp as “a really good athlete” with “impressive hands,” pointing to his “twitch” and “explosiveness” as a pass-catcher, while Bartholomew has also drawn notice for holding up as a blocker in the run game.
That momentum has coincided with a shift in how outside analysts view the Vikings’ tight end room: an early unofficial depth chart had fellow TE3 hopeful Ben Yurosek ahead of him, but by mid-August at least one national roster projection had both penciled in to make the 53-man roster behind T.J. Hockenson and Josh Oliver.
Minnesota finishes up its preseason schedule this Friday night with a game at Denver. Final cuts for all NFL teams are due by 6 p.m. on Aug. 30, when rosters must be trimmed to a maximum of 53 players.
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