Minnesota Vikings Sign Freddie Tagaloa

UPDATE: The Vikings have waived defensive lineman B.J. Dubose to make room for Tagaloa on the roster.

Last week, when it came out that the Minnesota Vikings wouldn’t be signing former Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong, I said that it would be kind of surprising if the Vikings were to sign anyone from their rookie minicamp this long after the fact.

Well. . .surprise!

According to Matthew Coller of 1500 ESPN (with a hat tip to The Viking Age, where I saw the story initially), the Vikings have added former Arizona Wildcats offensive lineman Freddie Tagaloa to a contract after their mini-camp. No corresponding roster move has been announced at this time.

The book on Tagaloa is that. . .well, he’s pretty big and he’s awfully strong. He stands 6’8” and weighs about 330 pounds. As far as the strength is concerned, according to Coller he set an Arizona record in the bench press, putting up 475 pounds. He was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, but at Arizona’s Pro Day prior to the 2017 NFL Draft, he benched 225 pounds a whopping 41 times, which was more than anyone that did attend this year’s Combine.

Tagaloa started his college career at California, but eventually transferred to Arizona. He battled a lot of knee injuries while a member of the Wildcats, and that caused him to miss multiple games. Still, 6’8”, 330-pounders don’t exactly grow on trees, so Tagaloa will get a shot to stick with the Vikings (or their practice squad) when the team heads to training camp.