Josh Oliver (born March 21, 1997) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

San Jose State Spartans The San Jose State Spartans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San José State University. SJSU sports teams compete in the Mountain West Conference at the NCAA Division I level, with football competing in the Football Bowl S ...

Early life

Born in

Templeton, California Templeton is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Luis Obispo County, California, San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. The population was 8,368 at the 2020 census, up from 7,674 at the 2010 census. Geography and climate Geogra ...

, Oliver attended Paso Robles High School in

Paso Robles, California Paso Robles ( ), officially El Paso de Robles (Spanish for The Pass of Oaks), is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Salinas River about north of San Luis Obispo, the city is known for its hot springs, ...

. His uncle, Clancy Oliver, was an NFL

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

from 1969 to 1970 and then-

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

in 1973, and second cousin Darren Oliver was a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher from 1993 to 2013, while his father Rene Oliver earned All- Western Football Conference first-team accolades as a

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

at Cal Poly in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

. Josh Oliver played tight end,

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

, and

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

on the football team and

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

on the basketball team in high school, earning first-team all-

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

accolades from the ''

San Luis Obispo Tribune ''The Tribune'' is a semiweekly broadsheet newspaper and news website that covers San Luis Obispo County, California. History It was created in 1939 from a combination of three newspapers founded between 1869 and 1905, and was later acquired ...

'' in both sports. During the 2014 season, Oliver compiled 453 receiving yards and seven

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

catches in helping PRHS advance to the CIF Southern California Division III championship game. He was a high school and college teammate of

Bailey Gaither Bailey Gaither (born January 11, 1997) is an American football wide receiver. He played college football at San Jose State. Early years Gaither attended Paso Robles High School as a two-sport athlete, also excelling in baseball. As a senior ...

, future

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

wide receiver and return specialist. Meanwhile, for his play at linebacker, Oliver was selected as the 2014

CIF Southern Section The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) is the governing body for high school athletics in most of Southern California and is the largest of the ten sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Federation (CI ...

Northern Division Defensive Player of the Year in January 2015. He accumulated 13 sacks and two interceptions (returned for 28 yards) as a senior.

College career

Initially listed as an "athlete" in much of the recruiting process, Oliver was announced as a tight end upon signing a

National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

with

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

, as then-positional coach Dan Ferrigno commented he " adthe tools to become an elite tight end." 200px, left, Oliver in 2017 with San Jose State. Oliver played at SJSU from 2015 to 2018. During his career, he had 98 receptions for 1,067 yards and seven touchdowns, and was a Mountain West Conference All-Academic honoree in all four of his years. As a freshman, his blocking was reportedly recognized to be a significant contributing factor toward Tyler Ervin breaking the program's single-season rushing yardage record. He also emerged as a receiving threat, with his first collegiate touchdown catch coming during the

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

Cure Bowl The Cure Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game that has been played in December of each year since 2015 in Orlando, Florida. It is currently held at Camping World Stadium, and in the past has been held at FBC Mortgage Stadium and ...

victory over Georgia State. Midway through the 2018 season, Oliver won a

John Mackey Award The John Mackey Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding tight end. Established in 2000 by the Nassau County Sports Commission, the award is given annually to the tight end who best exemplifies the play, sportsmanship, ac ...

as the national tight end of the week after producing eight catches for 158 yards against Hawai'i on September 27 (setting a school single-game receiving yardage record by a tight end). He earned first-team All-

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

selection and served as a team captain in 2018, during a season in which his 56 receptions ranked third among FBS-level tight ends. Oliver was invited to the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

after the season.

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

Oliver was drafted by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

in the third round, 69th overall, of the

2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. The first round was held ...

. He was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

on November 18, 2019. Oliver had surgery on a broken bone in his foot and was placed on injured reserve again on August 20, 2020.

Baltimore Ravens

175px, Oliver with the Baltimore Ravens in 2022. On March 18, 2021, Oliver was traded to the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

in exchange for a conditional 2022 seventh-round selection. He had nine receptions for 66 yards in 14 games in the 2021 season. In Week 3 of the 2022 season against the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

, he caught his first career touchdown pass from a yard out from quarterback

Lamar Jackson Lamar Demeatrice Jackson Jr. (born January 7, 1997) is an American professional football quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals, winning the Heisman T ...

. He finished the game with two receptions for eight yards and the aforementioned touchdown in the 37–26 win. In the 2022 season, he finished with 14 receptions for 149 yards and two touchdowns. Per

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

, Oliver graded as the top run-blocking tight end in the NFL amongst the 53 tight ends who played at least 200 blocking snaps for the year.

Minnesota Vikings

On March 15, 2023, Oliver signed a three-year, $21 million contract with the

. He finished the 2023 season with 22 receptions for 213 yards and two touchdowns. Oliver finished the 2024 season with 22 receptions for 258 yards and three touchdowns. On June 10, 2025, Oliver signed a three-year, $23.25 million contract extension with the Vikings.

References

External links

Minnesota Vikings bioSan Jose State Spartans bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Josh 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Paso Robles, California Players of American football from San Luis Obispo County, California American football tight ends San Jose State Spartans football players Jacksonville Jaguars players Baltimore Ravens players Minnesota Vikings players