Football

Vikings WR KJ Osborn helps save man from burning car: 'God had us at the right place'

By Joshua Doering Mar 7, 2023
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver K.J. Osborn, Dec. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver KJ Osborn was only in that specific Uber on Sunday because he missed his first one. He was looking at his phone as a car sped past, crashed into a pillar and caught on fire.

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Osborn, his Uber driver and two other people in another vehicle pulled over and rescued a man from the flames.

“I’m thinking this is obviously a big risk,” Osborn said on “The Adam Schefter Podcast.” “I don’t have experience in this. In my head, I’m thinking this car can blow up at any second and it could all be over.”

The former fifth-round draft pick then carried the man to safety.

“[Police officers] just came back and told us, you know, we saved that man’s life, that he wouldn’t have been able to get out of that vehicle without our help,” Osborn told Schefter.

On Monday night, Osborn tweeted a short statement, a picture of the four-person rescue team and two pictures of the wrecked vehicle.

In the tweet, he praised God for putting him in a position to help.

“Most of the time the saying goes ‘wrong place wrong time.’ But this time I believe God had me, us, at the right place at the exact right time,” Osborn wrote.

He ended his statement by celebrating God’s love, grace and mercy.

“I’ll leave you with this,” he wrote. “God is real. And His LOVE is real. He will send his angels to be camped around you and provide you with his grace and mercy.”

Osborn was in Austin, Texas, preparing for his fourth season with the Vikings. He has appeared in every game over the past two seasons, catching 110 passes for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns. His first postseason experience came in Minnesota’s wild-card loss to the New York Giants this past season. Osborn had two receptions in the game, one of which was a touchdown.

Long before the heroic act, Osborn has expressed his faith in God on social media. The words “Put God 1st” are included in his Twitter and Instagram bios.

 

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A post shared by KJ Osborn (@kj_osborn_)

Osborn also thanked God in the caption he used for a video he posted to celebrate being drafted.

In his interview on Schefter’s podcast, Osborn said he never could have imagined being in a situation like that and that he is planning to visit the hospital to see the man he helped save.

“I’m a normal person just like everybody else,” he said. “This is real life. When it comes to saving a human’s life, that’s way bigger than anything that I’ve ever experienced.”

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