T.J. Hockenson Traded to the Vikings
TJ Hockenson to the Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings have officially acquired tight end T.J. Hockenson from the Detroit Lions this afternoon ahead of today’s 4 PM deadline.
In the trade, Minnesota received Hockenson, a 2023 fourth-round pick, and a 2024 conditional fourth-round pick in exchange for a 2023 second-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick.
This move is huge as the Vikings just lost Irv Smith Jr. to a high ankle sprain that is expected to sideline him for the next 8-10 weeks.
The former first-round tight end is under contract through 2023 after the Lions picked up his fifth-year option during the off-season at a cost of $9.4M.
With the Vikings sitting at 6-1, they get a nice boost with Hockenson as they only trail the 7-0 Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC. With Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, and Dalvin Cook to add to it, this offense is looking to push for the title.
TJ Hockenson’s transformation into a Viking. pic.twitter.com/YkvXnXsnG9
— Aaron Schill (@aaron_schill) November 1, 2022
Fantasy Football Outlook
From a fantasy football perspective, this is a fairly lateral move for Hockenson. He’s currently the TE4 in PPR scoring and has already had his bye week. It’ll obviously take a few weeks for him to get acclimated to the offense and you might want to leave him on your bench for a week or so. If the Vikings know they’re contending to win now, they’ll have some packages ready for Hockenson sooner rather than later.
Irv Smith Jr. has been demanding a 13.4% target share this year and has caught 22 of 33 targets thrown his way. Hockenson is an obvious upgrade over Smith and should get at least that same target share once he’s up to speed.
As for the Lions, this is a nice bump for St. Brown who is already a fantasy football stud when he’s healthy. The next two tight ends up in Detroit are currently Brock Wright and James Mitchell. Your guess is as good as mine with those two on who the next one to roster might be. I’d avoid them both until further notice.
Dynasty Football Outlook
From a fantasy perspective, Hockenson is looking like a top-5 dynasty tight end once again in a pass-happy offense.
For the Detroit Lions, this is great. Hockenson was going to be looking for a payday and I don’t think the Lions are there yet. Getting draft capital for Hockenson is a huge benefit that was greatly needed as this team continues to build up.
As a result, the Lions have a plethora of draft picks. They now have two 2023 firsts (Rams trade for Matt Stafford) along with two 2023 seconds, one being the trade today for Hockenson.
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