Can Gavin Bartholomew, an early contributor at Pitt, pull off the same as the Vikings’ TE3?

Pat Narduzzi doesn’t remember when new Vikings tight end Gavin Bartholomew started growing out his mullet.

But Bartholomew’s facial hair — even at 17 years old — sold the Pittsburgh coach on offering him a scholarship in 2020.

Narduzzi needed a tight end who could make an immediate impact in his offense. Someone older, potentially even a transfer, he thought.

Then he video-chatted with Bartholomew, a three-star prospect from the Coal Region of northeastern Pennsylvania.

“I saw that he had a big, burly beard in high school,” Narduzzi said. “He just looked more mature.”

Bartholomew, the Vikings’ final selection in this year’s NFL draft, smiled when asked Friday after the first day of rookie minicamp at TCO Performance Center in Eagan about Narduzzi’s assertion: “It’s pretty funny he still says that.”

Now freshly 22 years old, the still-bearded Bartholomew joins a tight end room that dwindled to just veterans T.J. Hockenson and Josh Oliver — each with his own strong facial hair game — after Johnny Mundt signed with the Jaguars during free agency.

In some ways, Bartholomew is a one-to-one replacement of Mundt: He’ll wear the same number, 86. He’s got the mullet or “lettuce,” as Narduzzi said he’s learned it’s called. He hosted cookouts for the Pittsburgh offense, potentially even making him fit to take over Mundt’s role as the Vikings tight end room’s prize-winning grill master.

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.

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.

“Jordan can be — he’s not the loudest guy in the room, I would say, but he’s an incredible personality and funny, once you get to know him,” Adofo-Mensah said. “But we asked him about Gavin and he lit up. Before he even said words you could see in his demeanor and the smile on his face.”

Pittsburgh won the ACC championship that year. Addison transferred, and the tight end above Bartholomew on the depth chart moved on from the program.

Bartholomew’s production took a dip the next two seasons as Pitt struggled through quarterback issues following Kenny Pickett’s departure (drafted 20th overall in 2022) and in its first year under the new and now current offensive coordinator following Frank Cignetti Jr.’s firing.

Bartholomew made 21 catches for 283 yards in 2022 and then 18 catches for 326 yards and one touchdown in 2023.

Still, the latter season produced the film that caught Vikings coaches’ eyes and the former one of Bartholomew’s most notable highlight-reel catches.

Narduzzi said Bartholomew became a go-to short-yardage target because of his ability to create yards after catch.

In a 2022 game against Tennessee, Bartholomew caught a toss of about 20 yards on the move near the sideline. He turned it into an 57-yard touchdown with a track-like hurdle over a diving defender.

“He’s got the ability to do it against anybody. You just have to have the opportunity,” Narduzzi said. “He’s a bull. He’s tough. He’s not gonna turn down contact. Whether he’s hurdling a guy or running through a guy, getting extra yards, it’s something Gavin can do.”

The Vikings could use that type of after-catch punch.

Last season, they averaged just 4.9 yards after catch per completion, near the bottom of the league (though the differential from top to bottom is only 2.5 yards), according to Pro Football Reference. Running back Aaron Jones led offensive contributors with 20 or more receptions with an average of 8.4 yards after catch. Oliver had the next most (6.1), and Mundt had the fourth-most (5.1).

Bartholomew averaged 6.9 yards after catch at Pitt, finishing three seasons with a 6.3 or better average.

As with most collegiate tight ends nowadays, blocking will be a place for continued improvement for Bartholomew at the pro level.

Narduzzi said he’s increasingly recruiting oversized wide receivers who convert to tight ends at the college level. But they have to have the courage to block before they can even start nailing the fundamentals.

Bartholomew, Narduzzi said, has the courage, and took a big step forward in the fundamentals last season working with a new position coach.

“I took a lot of pride in that going into that season, especially open-field blocking,” Bartholomew said. “That was one thing that I really wanted to work on, and I thought that my tape definitely showed that I was working on that pretty hard and definitely improved.”

He earned the highest run-blocking grade of his four years (7.8% better than his next-best season) from Pro Football Focus in 2024.

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said Friday that tight end is one position where there can be anxiety around whether players will appear in person as they do on film or even in a controlled environment like a pro day.

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.

Narduzzi’s early hunch on Bartholomew based on his facial hair paid off for Pittsburgh. It seems what the Vikings saw on video from him is lining up in person for them, too.

“I don’t want to use the social media analogy of someone looking exactly like they did in their pictures,” O’Connell said, “but Gavin definitely checks that box.”