Inside The Vikings

Vikings Signing Former XFL QB Jordan Ta'amu

Ta'amu is the third player from the D.C. Defenders to join the Vikings' roster this offseason.

Will Ragatz

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The Vikings are signing former D.C. Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta'amu, the XFL announced on Friday. He's coming off a season in which he won the league's offensive player of the year award.

The Vikings hosted Ta'amu for a workout a couple months ago. Now, curiously, they're adding him to their roster just one day ahead of their second preseason game.

Ta'amu becomes the third former Defenders player to join the Vikings' roster this offseason, following his top wide receiver (Lucky Jackson) and running back (Abram Smith). He joins a Minnesota QB room featuring Kirk Cousins, backup Nick Mullens, and rookie Jaren Hall. Ta'amu almost certainly won't play in Saturday's night's preseason game against the Titans, but he could get some work in next week's joint practices with the Cardinals, as well as the Vikings' final preseason game.

Ta'amu, a 25-year-old Hawaii native, led the Defenders to a 9-1 record and a berth in the XFL championship game this spring, where they lost 35-26 to the Arlington Renegades. In the ten-game regular season, he completed 62 percent of his passes for 1,894 yards, 14 touchdowns, three interceptions, and four fumbles, also rushing for 298 yards and three scores. Ta'amu heated up as the season progressed, with just one touchdown pass in the season's first five games and multiple TD passes in each of the final seven, including playoffs. However, Ta'amu did throw five interceptions in the Defenders' two postseason games after having just three in the regular season.

After high school in Pearl City, HI, Ta'amu began his college career at the New Mexico Military Institute, spending two seasons there. He then transferred to Ole Miss, where he started the final five games of 2017 and the entire 2018 season. Across 19 career games for the Rebels, Ta'amu completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 5,600 yards, 30 touchdowns, 12 INTs, 507 rushing yards, and 10 rushing TDs. He had over 300 passing yards in 12 of his 17 career starts. In a 2018 win over Arkansas, he threw for 387 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 141 yards and a score.

Listed at 6'3", 214 pounds, Ta'amu earned a 6.68 RAS in 2019, including a 4.77 40-yard dash. He has been the definition of a football journeyman since going undrafted four years ago, spending time in the XFL, the USFL, and on five different NFL rosters. He hasn't taken a regular season NFL snap. Ta'amu led the USFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns in 2022 with the Tampa Bay Bandits.

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Will Ragatz
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