Are the Skoldiers ready to go all in? General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah sure is after dealing for 2020 Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson at Tuesday’s trade deadline. In exchange for Hockenson, the Vikings are sending their 2023 second-round pick and 2024 third-round pick to the Detroit Lions. The Vikings will also receive Detroit’s 2023 fourth-round pick and a conditional 2024 fourth-round pick.
Hockenson was the eighth-overall pick in the 2019 draft and is under contract through the 2023 season. He will carry a $9.4 million cap hit next year after Detroit picked up his fifth-year option this past offseason. The former University of Iowa tight end currently has the fifth-most receiving yards amongst NFL tight ends with 395 and leads the position with 15.2 yards per reception. He’s also one of the best tight ends in all of football when it comes to accumulating yards after the catch.
Minnesota’s decision to swing for the fences with Hockenson was made easier on Tuesday after it was announced that Irv Smith Jr. would be sidelined for 8-10 weeks with a high ankle sprain that he suffered in Week 8 against the Arizona Cardinals. But Minnesota’s need for another pass-catching playmaker was clear long before the news came out of Smith’s injury misfortune.
Despite occupying 20.3% of the Vikings’ target share, the offense isn’t experiencing the same level of efficiency from 32-year-old Adam Thielen. His 89.8 passer rating when targeted is second-worst on the team by all pass-catchers who have received at least 20 targets this season. Furthermore, out of 37 NFL wide receivers that have received 45-plus targets this season, Thielen’s 89.8 passer rating when targeted ranks 25th.
At 25 years old, Hockenson is smack dab in the middle of his prime. And he should provide some much-needed juice for Minnesota’s offense the moment he walks into TCO Performance Center. Kevin O’Connell has consistently displayed a unique ability to scheme open his tight ends — particularly in the red zone.
By inserting a true matchup nightmare for opposing defenses, the expectation should be that Hockenson will be able to create more explosive plays for Minnesota’s offense. And the overall production from the Vikings’ tight ends will no longer rely entirely upon O’Connell scheming them open.
For everything Hockenson brings Minnesota’s offense as a playmaker in the open field, he certainly leaves a lot to be desired as a blocker — despite what a vast majority of the football world thinks of Hockenson’s abilities. Pro Football Focus has Hockenson graded as one of the worst run-blocking tight ends in the game this season.
And Hockenson’s shortcomings as a blocker aren’t exclusive to the run game. Although he wasn’t asked to pass-protect with regularity during his time in Detroit, he was consistently exposed in this phase of the game.
Unfortunately for Minnesota, Hockenson has been one of the worst pass protectors among NFL tight ends this season. On the year, only Pharaoh Brown, Geoff Swaim, and John Bates have allowed more pressures on the quarterback than Hockenson. And only Cole Kmet has allowed more hits on the quarterback than Minnesota’s new tight end. Considering that rookie right guard Ed Ingram “leads” all NFL guards with 27 pressures allowed this year, the Vikings will occasionally need to rely on Hockenson to keep Kirk Cousins upright. If Hockenson can improve in this area of his game, it would go a long way in keeping Minnesota’s offense ahead of the chains and out of third-and-longs.
But let’s not get too hung up on Hockenson’s blocking. After all, that’s what Ben Ellefson is for, when necessary.
The Vikings brought Hockenson in to do what Thielen, Smith Jr., and K.J. Osborn haven’t been able to do consistently this season: making defenses pay for if and when they decide to bracket Justin Jefferson with their coverages. If defenses don’t properly account for Hockenson, he has shown throughout his career that he will generate big plays. And if Hockenson commands attention from opposing defenses, that just means more viable opportunities for Minnesota’s best players in Jefferson and Dalvin Cook.
Minnesota was completely justified in joining the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles in loading up at the deadline by adding Hockenson. The NFC hasn’t been this wide-open in years, and Minnesota is deservedly in the conversation to be the team that represents the conference in Super Bowl LVII.
Unlike Rick Spielman’s hasty decision to part with a second-round pick for Yannick Ngakoue in the days leading up to the 2020 season, Adofo-Mensah displayed proper discipline in waiting until the 11th hour of the deadline to significantly improve his 6-1 football team. The Hockenson trade fills arguably Minnesota’s biggest need offensively, and Adofo-Mensah needs to be celebrated for getting it done without paying too steep of a price.
Buckle up, Skoldiers. Because this team is gearing up to make some serious noise when the playoffs roll around in January.
