Vikings Pro Bowl TE to miss at least first four games of season

Kevin O’Connell has labeled T.J. Hockenson as ahead of schedule on his ACL and MCL tears rehab, but the standout Vikings tight end was not expected to begin the season on time. He will not do so, the team ensured Tuesday.

Minnesota is shifting Hockenson from the active/PUP list to the reserve/PUP list, per ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. This anticipated transaction will sideline the veteran pass catcher for at least the season’s first four games.

Hockenson will join J.J. McCarthy as key Minnesota offensive pieces out of the equation in September. Unlike the first-round quarterback, however, Hockenson will be expected to return this season. Hockenson nearly reached 1,000 receiving yards last year after signing a lucrative Vikings extension, but the knee maladies intervened. The former Lions top-10 draftee went down in Week 16, and the setback will affect his 2024 slate.

Sam Darnold will still have Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison as targets to open the season unless the latter receives a suspension for his DUI arrest before that point. Still, the bridge QB should have Hockenson at his disposal before long. The sixth-year tight end went down on Christmas Eve; this PUP transaction will move his recovery past the nine-month point. That is standard for ACL tears, with Adrian Peterson‘s historic 2012 comeback in Minnesota one of the exceptions.

Hockenson, 27, amassed 960 yards last season despite not making it through Week 16. Also, getting there as the Vikings completed a season in which they started four quarterbacks, Hockenson quickly showed he was worthy of the top-market extension he signed. The Vikings will give him time to recapture that form; the Iowa alum is signed through the 2027 season. Johnny Mundt, Josh Oliver and free agency addition Robert Tonyan, who has completed the NFC North sweep by being aligned with Minnesota, headline Minnesota’s tight end group for now.