EAGAN, Minn. -- As the Minnesota Vikings move through their long list of offseason priorities this spring, from determining the future of quarterback Kirk Cousins to elevating the personnel on their defense, they must also consider a largely undiscussed but no less important matter: whether tight end T.J. Hockenson will be ready to play when the 2024 regular season begins.
Hockenson, a fixture at one of the most important positions in the Vikings' offensive scheme, tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee Dec. 24. In conjunction with the team's medical staff, he delayed surgery for 36 days while the MCL healed. Dr. Neal ElAttrache repaired his ACL on Jan. 29. Multiple sources told ESPN there have been no complications from the surgery, but emphasized the typical recovery from the type of injury he suffered is nine months.
That timeline would put Hockenson in the conversation for playing toward the end of September or early October. The NFL's opening weekend is Sept. 5-9. It's early in the process, and Hockenson's schedule could either be accelerated or slowed based on the timing of various milestones. But the most relevant question is not whether he will be ready for Week 1, but instead whether he will be placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list -- making him ineligible to play until Week 5 at the earliest.
The possibility Hockenson could miss a chunk of the 2024 regular season, rather than be limited in the early going, raises the stakes of the Vikings' offseason plan for the depth behind him. The Vikings, after all, have one of the NFL's most tight end heavy teams.
They led the league last season in tight end targets (179), and not just because receiver Justin Jefferson missed seven games because of a hamstring injury. In coach Kevin O'Connell's two seasons with the team, the Vikings rank second in tight end targets (325) behind the Kansas City Chiefs (380), who have featured veteran Travis Kelce over that period. Hockenson has accounted for 83.3% of the Vikings' tight end targets in the games he's played.
In 25 career games with the team, dating back to his 2022 midseason acquisition from the Detroit Lions, Hockenson has caught more passes (155) than any tight end in the NFL, for the second-most yards (1,479).
"I just absolutely love T.J.," O'Connell said in December. "I love what he is to our organization, love his toughness and his production. I mean, he's been wildly, wildly productive all season long which was my expectation coming into the season.
"Unfortunately for T.J., he's going to be on the road to recovery. I know he'll attack that with all the resources we have in this building. Knowing T.J., the type of player he is, I'm absolutely looking forward to when we can get him back rolling and ready to have a great 2024 season."
The Vikings are so committed to the tight end position, in fact, that they signed free agent Josh Oliver to a three-year, $21 million deal in March 2023, five months before extending Hockenson's contract with four years and at least $66 million. Their tight end targets dropped only slightly after Hockenson's injury, from 10.7 to 9.5 per game, and at the moment they have the fourth-most 2024 salary cap space devoted to the tight end position the NFL ($20.3 million), according to ESPN's Roster Management System.
Oliver caught a career-high 22 passes for 213 yards last season, but it's worth noting that No. 3 tight end Johnny Mundt largely stepped into Hockenson's receiving role after the injury. The Vikings targeted Mundt 13 times on 63 routes in those two games, while Oliver was targeted five times on 20 routes. (Oliver did miss some snaps in Week 18 while he had an injury evaluated.)
Mundt is a pending unrestricted free agent, and No. 4 tight end Nick Muse will be an exclusive rights free agent. Neither would be expensive to re-sign, and Mundt especially has been a favorite of O'Connell over the past two seasons. The Vikings will have to decide whether a plan featuring Oliver and Mundt -- or another low-cost veteran -- would be robust enough to carry them through the early part of the season. The good news is they have plenty of time to figure it out.