T.J. Hockenson’s Disappointing 2024 Season
T.J. Hockenson was a late arrival to the 2024 purple people party after finally being given the green light to play on November 3rd’s Sunday Night Football showdown against the Indianapolis Colts at U.S. Bank Stadium. The tight end was recovering from a torn ACL dealt to him by Detroit Lions 2024 All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph in Week 16 of 2023.
Being a little rusty after missing so many months of football is understandable; the NFL is a very hard league to play in. Hockenson would only haul in three receptions on four targets for 27 yards in his first game back in action against Indy.
The next week, in a barnburner in Jacksonville, there would be more of a footprint left by the highest-paid tight end in the league. Eight grabs on nine targets for 72 yards, including multiple big-time late-down conversions, would remind us that the former Iowa standout was pretty good at what he does.
After a very quiet three-reception and 13-yard performance in Tennessee the week after that, Hockenson would explode relative to his usual production for his career. Week 12’s divisional showdown at Soldier Field against the stumbling Chicago Bears saw Minnesota’s TE1 rack up seven catches on nine targets for 114 yards.
After that game, he was quite unnoticeable.
From Week 13 up until he caught a touchdown pass when the Vikings were down 27-3 late in the third quarter of Minnesota’s playoff matchup in Arizona against the Rams, it was very hard (most of the time) to notice Hockenson.
In the final six contests of the regular season, Hockenson caught 21 passes for 229 yards, an average of 38.1 yards per game. His grand total production in the ten regular season games he played was 41 receptions for 455 yards and zero touchdowns. It is probably not really what you want to see out of your $66 million tight end you sent a lot of draft capital to the surging (division rival) Detroit Lions for.
Who do you blame? Sam Darnold, the quarterback that threw for 4,300+ yards and 35 touchdowns? Kevin O’Connell, one of the best offensive play call-and-designers in professional football? Many will blame the “rust” and coming off an injury, and that would be understandable if it was a three or four-game sample size at hand here.
In relative terms, Hockenson played the majority of the season and left more than enough to be desired from someone who was given a record-breaking contract in the summer of 2023 and cost significant draft capital to one of the best teams in the NFL that just so happens to be a division rival.
The 114-yard performance in Chicago in November was his third game with 100+ receiving yards since he was acquired by Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in November of 2022. Of course, tight ends aren’t the vaunted yard-getters that wide receivers are, but if T.J. Hockenson is going to remain in “top 5 tight end” talks, he has to look the part.
George Kittle had four games of 100+ yards in 2024 alone. The “washed” Travis Kelce had five games of 80+ yards, and Hockenson had one. Sam LaPorta, the tight end Detroit replaced Hockenson with, had seven games of 50+ yards and seven touchdowns. Hock had four games of 50+ yards and zero touchdowns.
Should the Vikings consider trading the two-time Pro Bowler? The idea is less crazy than one might think. If the theory is that J.J. McCarthy is going to be the Day 1 starter in September, then it would hurt to lose a weapon in Hockenson. However, the $21 million in 2026 and $23 million in 2027 the Vikings would save in cap space by trading him this offseason could go a lot further to helping the young quarterback.
A restructure could be performed like they did in 2024 as well, but it’s important to note that the Vikings gave themselves out in this portion of the contract for a reason.
This is not meant to tear down Hockenson, he’s a very good football player and is beloved by Vikings fans across the country. But to be an elite team in the NFL, you have to stretch the dollar, even if you have tens of millions of them to operate with. OverTheCap valuated T.J. Hockenson in 2024 at $5.1 million, as compared to his $16 million AAV.
Hock would be a welcome sight in the huddle for McCarthy if he is to take the field next season, but a Hockenson divorce isn’t something that Vikings fans should just automatically reject.
