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Primarily a blocker with Rams, TE Johnny Mundt eager to show Vikings his worth as a receiver

chris tomasson, pioneer press
·4 min read

Take a glance at Johnny Mundt’s career statistics, and there’s little to suggest he could be much of a receiving threat for the Vikings. In five seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, he caught 10 passes.

But the 27-year-old tight end says that’s not a fair indicator. The Rams’ offense did not call for him to catch passes, and he expects that to change in Minnesota. Mundt signed a two-year, $2.415 million contract with the Vikings in March.

“I was actually brought in as a receiving tight end, and I kind of figured out the whole blocking thing,” said Mundt, who caught 23 passes at Oregon in 2016 before joining the Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2017 and being turned into mostly a blocker. “But I’m an athletic guy. I can catch the ball, and I’m ready to prove that.”

The Vikings are hoping that will be the case. And Mundt said he expects to be his new team’s No. 2 tight end behind Irv Smith Jr., who is a top receiving threat.

“I’m the most experienced player we have in the (tight end) room right now, going into my sixth year,” Mundt said. “I’ve been around the game, I’ve watched (prolific tight end) Tyler Higbee with the Rams, and learned a lot from him. So I’m really ready to take the next step and contribute quality minutes to the Vikings’ offense.”

During spring drills, Mundt hasn’t been able to contribute much. He’s worked on the side during practices while still recovering from a torn ACL suffered last October. However, he said his recovery is “going great” and he’ll be “ready to go during training camp” when it gets underway in late July.

Mundt suffered the injury in a Week 6 game at the New York Giants. He missed the rest of the season, included the Rams’ 23-20 win over Cincinnati in February’s Super Bowl LVI.

“It’s bittersweet,” he said. “I try not to dwell on the negative aspects of it. I got to be part of a Super Bowl team and contribute to the team throughout six weeks.”

After the injury, Mundt watched Rams’ home games from a box at Sofi Stadium. However, he was able to stand on the sideline for the Super Bowl at Sofi, which he said provided a lot of excitement. And he plans to attend the Rams’ ring ceremony this summer.

After the win over the Bengals, Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell took over as the Vikings’ head coach and tight ends coach Wes Phillips joined him as their offensive coordinator. A month later, Mundt followed the two to Minnesota.

“I had some familiarity obviously with (the two coaches), and there was a lot more opportunity here,” Mundt said. “I felt like change of scenery would do well.”

Now, the Vikings are talking about actually throwing the ball to Mundt. With the Rams, head coach Sean McVay called the plays, and Mundt took a backseat as a receiver to Higbee and Gerald Everett, a Los Angeles tight end from 2017-20.

“Johnny’s an explosive guy,” said Phillips, who was Mundt’s position coach for three years and last season also was the Rams’ passing game coordinator. “He’s got vertical speed. He’s a good route-runner. … He’s really kind of a complete tight end. … It’s all about opportunity.”

Phillips pointed to an October 2020 game against Chicago, when Higbee was out, leaving Everett and Mundt as the two primary tight ends. Mundt had a career-high three catches for 48 yards in the 24-10 win.

“He answered the bell,” Phillips said.

Phillips said after that game Mundt got the nickname “The Bear Killer” because it was the second straight year he had gotten a start in a win over Chicago. However, it must be said that Mundt, who has started just three times in his 47 career games, did not have a catch in the 2019 victory.

Mundt also earned a nickname with the Rams for his blocking.

“He has strong hands,” Phillips said. “They used to call him ‘Strong Hands Mundt.’ In L.A., the defensive guys were saying, ‘That’s Johnny Mundt. Watch out. He throws those hands.’ He’s a physical player in the run game.”

Mundt was an effective blocker with the Rams, and he expects that to continue. But now he plans to use his hands to catch balls, too.

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