What a T.J. Hockenson Trade Would Mean for the Vikings
T.J. Hockenson has been the subject of trade rumors in recent days, specifically in mock deals with Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos. Whether or not it would make sense for the Broncos to acquire Hockenson is besides the point of the discussion. Would it make sense for the Vikings to trade the “star” tight end? What exactly does a trade of that magnitude symbolize?
It would be an obvious waving of the metaphorical white flag on the mega-package that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the Minnesota Vikings sent to their division rival, the Detroit Lions, in the general manager’s first year with the organization. In that transaction, Minnesota sent a 2023 second-round selection and a 2023 third-round selection to the Motor City for Hockenson, as well as a 2023 fourth-round selection and a conditional 2024 fourth-rounder.
Outside of draft capital, the Minnesota Vikings invested a lot of cash into the tight end. In August of 2023, the Vikings doubled down on their commitment to the former Iowa Hawkeye by giving him a 4-year/$66 million contract extension with $42.5 million guaranteed in the terms of the deal.
Per OverTheCap, the Vikings would save roughly $23 million on their 2026 cap number, a substantial savings given that they are currently $36 million over the cap for that year. The main issue is that the Vikings really wouldn’t get a lot in return.
Minnesota hasn’t done much to keep his trade value up, and teams aren’t going to be interested in sending serious assets for an aging tight end a year removed from a major knee injury, regardless of the contract situation they would be signing up to handle.
Our own Janik Eckardt put it nicely:
“Regardless, if the Vikings aren’t going anywhere, they might be interested in getting his salary off the books. Hockenson signed a big four-year deal in 2023, paying him $66 million.
A trade would get the Vikings off the hook from his high cap hits in 2026 and 2027, while also preserving some cap space this year. His hits in the next two years are scheduled to exceed $21 million.
It’s important to note, however, that Hockenson wouldn’t return any big draft compensation. That’s the downside of the bloated contract and the diminishing production.”
The finances really are the only reason it makes sense. It’s a shame the contract was given out and the assets were sent out regardless, but getting T.J. Hockenson’s contract off of the books going forward would be of large benefit for a very cash-strapped Vikings team looking to the future as they develop QB J.J. McCarthy.
Hockenson isn’t currently producing, and it’s hard for me personally to say T.J. Hockenson was worth the money even before his torn ACL. Now with him being a virtual non-factor in the passing game, there’s no longer a need for him to stay around and keep cashing checks, whether or not he looks like a Viking. There isn’t anything that he’s done this season that Josh Oliver or even Ben Yurosek couldn’t do.
The Vikings have until November 4th to make a decision on the future of T.J. Hockenson in purple and gold or lack thereof. It makes all the sense in the world for the organization to chop the experiment up as a loss and get the contract off of the books as much as they can.
The only question on the matter should be about who would want to help out the Vikings by taking on some of that contract.
