EAGAN, Minn. -- T.J. Hockenson is set to resume his career as the Minnesota Vikings' top tight end Sunday night, 315 days after tearing two ligaments in his right knee. He said he is "bigger, stronger and faster than ever" according to measurements taken with the advanced technology the Vikings used during his long recovery and rehabilitation.
The same cannot be said, however, for the offense Hockenson is returning to.
In his absence, and amid the transition from quarterback Kirk Cousins to Sam Darnold, the Vikings have geared down their offense, refocusing their scheme around two players: receiver Justin Jefferson and running back Aaron Jones. They are averaging the NFL's fewest pass attempts per game (27.1), have increased their rate of designed runs by 24% compared to the previous two seasons and have targeted their healthy tight ends an average of 4.0 times per game -- the second-lowest rate in the NFL and less than half their rate in games Hockenson played from 2022 to 2023.
Some of that shift has been intentional, based on personnel strengths and weaknesses, and it's helped the Vikings defy expectations to win five of their first seven games. But it also represents the impact of factors that have caused them to have the NFL's lowest rate of plays per game (56.7). That includes the NFL's third-most pre-snap penalties (25), a high number of short fields caused by defensive takeaways that have given them the league's 10th-best average drive start (30.4-yard line). Plus, Sam Darnold has held the ball an NFL-high 3.1 seconds before throwing, as he has waited for downfield routes to open up.
Hockenson's skills as a midrange pass vacuum could well be an antidote to those limitations, spreading the field in ways that backups Johnny Mundt and Josh Oliver did not. It's why coach Kevin O'Connell said earlier this month he is "very, very excited about the possibility of getting T.J.'s skill set back in our offense."
"It's the production that he brings and the mismatch that he can create against safeties and linebackers," offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said Tuesday. "His ability to win versus match or man coverage, all those things are pretty unique for a tight end that also gives you value in the run game like he does. I think he's a complete tight end.".
The Vikings acquired Hockenson at the trade deadline of the 2022 season, and it's wild to think how tight end heavy they became in the 25 regular-season games between that moment and Hockenson's knee injury. Over that period, they targeted Hockenson 8.56 times per game, more than any tight end but the Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce. The targets were productive as well. Hockenson's average of 3.0 first downs per game was also the second most among tight ends, and in that 25-game stretch, he caught 155 passes for 1,479 yards and eight touchdowns.
The bonanza stopped when Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph hit him just above the right knee after he caught a 24-yard pass in Week 16 last season. After being diagnosed with a torn ACL and MCL, Hockenson and the Vikings' medical team decided to delay surgery so the MCL could heal first, a common approach to such injuries. Dr. Neal ElAttrache repaired the ACL 36 days later on January 29, setting in motion a nine-month recovery that continued through the first seven games of this season.
Hockenson began running what appeared to be full-speed routes on a rehabilitation field during training camp, in full view of spectators, spawning external hope that he could return earlier in the season. Internally, however, the Vikings knew it was highly unlikely he would be fully cleared any time before their Week 8 game at the Los Angeles Rams, according to sources. In the end, they held him out of the Rams game to utilize the full 21-day practice window before adding him to their 53-man roster.
"You do really have to stay patient with something like this," Hockenson said. "I've felt good for months now, but to actually go out there, there's data that says nine months is the key. And so just having to wait till then, [which] has been something that's been hard for me.
"I [felt] at seven that I was ready to go out there and start practicing. But that's another thing that the [medical staff] here has done an incredible job, just being like, 'Hey, you can't yet, you can't yet, it's not smart.' They do everything in the best interest of you as a person and not necessarily what you want to do or what you are asking to do. They do what's best for you from science, from a standpoint of being better in years to come rather than in the past. And so it has just been incredible."
Indeed, vice president of player health and performance Tyler Williams and his staff did their best to mimic the workload of full practices during training camp and the first four weeks of the regular season. According to Hockenson, they used RFID (radio frequency identification) technology to track all of his on-field movements, including his daily number of accelerations and decelerations and the total amount of yards run.
"I was trying to keep up with [the team] as much as I could," he said. "So if they were at 3,500 yards, I'd be trying to hit 3,500 yards. If they're at 4,000 yards, I'd be trying to hit 4,000 yards. And obviously some of that's jogging and stuff, but the majority of it is routes and speed lines. If they're at 15 [accelerations] and 15 [decelerations], and that's what I needed to get to. It is incredible how far the technology's come and how well the Vikings used that."
The Vikings' video crew, which films all practices, trained an additional camera on Hockenson so that he could compare how he felt with how he actually looked, and naturally build confidence when he saw the gap between the two perceptions closing. Williams shared some of that video via a text string that included ElAttrache so they could track progress and make real-time adjustments when necessary.
Make no mistake, however. The process was tedious and left plenty of time, Hockenson said, for alternate activities like reading. Among other books, he reread "The Slight Edge," one he had initially been exposed to while a college student at Iowa. Among the messages he reflected on was that "anything you do is everything you do," he said, which he used to power through the monotony and solitude of recovery.
"It's been fun to go back and really learn about yourself," he said, "and have a little time to just reflect on what you've done and where you want to go."
That process is over now. The Vikings' offense needs him, and Hockenson is ready -- finally -- to be needed.