T.J. Hockenson Is Getting Tantalizingly Close To A Storybook Return

T.J. Hockenson has described life away from football as a “dark place,” somewhere he’d like to escape. However, he doesn’t know when he’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel.

He believes it may be sometime soon. Hockenson stayed late after practice to build chemistry with Sam Darnold. He’s been running routes on air for the past five months. However, the Minnesota Vikings opened his 21-day practice window before they practiced in London last week. Slowly but surely, Hockenson is integrating himself back into the team.

“It felt great. I've loved every second of it,” Hockenson said. “Just to be around the guys again and feel football.”

The Vikings listed Hockenson as limited in practice, and he’s uncertain whether he’ll be able to play against the Detroit Lions on Sunday. If he’s fully healthy, Minnesota would love to have him in a game that may determine who takes control of the NFC.

It would also be an opportunity for Hockenson to beat his old team. Minnesota traded for Hockenson on November 1, 2022, and hasn’t beaten Detroit since. A month after the Vikings traded for Hockenson, the Lions beat them 34-23. Last year, Detroit beat them in both Weeks 16 and 18 after Zac Taylor and the Cincinnati Bengals created a blueprint to stymie Brian Flores’ defense in Week 15.

Hockenson tore his ACL when Kerby Joseph hit him low in Week 16*. Hockenson has maintained that he has no ill will toward his former teammate. Instead, he believes the league should change the rules to encourage hits higher on the body and not allow players to lead with the crown of their helmets.

Hockenson has been by Minnesota’s 5-0 start. Still, it’s hard for him to watch from the sidelines. That will be especially true if the Vikings rule him out for the Lions game, given it’s an important game against his former team. Hockenson has physically felt fine for months and has no reservations about playing on the knee. He knows it’s fully healed and is ready to step on the gridiron again.

Hockenson said Vikings ownership, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, and Kevin O’Connell called and visited him multiple times throughout the process. “When you're going through an injury like that, you really find out who's on your side,” he said, while also crediting his wife for supporting him. “The Vikings were there every single step of the way.”

Tyler Williams and Minnesota’s medical staff also accommodated him through the nine months of rehab. They sent him to Southern California to work with Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who O’Connell knew from his time coaching the Los Angeles Rams, for the surgery.

The Vikings then worked with Hockenson’s trainers in Nashville to allow him to rehab from his adopted hometown. He also hosts Tight End U in Nashville, an offseason training program with Travis Kelce, George Kittle, and Greg Olsen. By working with PTs at home, he could have a relatively normal off-season.

Hockenson said the focus of the second half of his rehab was getting up to game speed.

Most players run 3,500 to 4,000 yards at practice, and the Vikings track them throughout the season. With healthy players, it allows them to see how much they are exerting themselves. They can see whether they need rest to avoid injury and be at peak performance on game day. For rehabbing players like Hockenson, it allows him to simulate practice and work up to game speed without risking injury.

Each step paved a pathway for him to return. It’s been a long, dark road for Hockenson. He’s starting to see the light but is unsure when the path will end. There would be something poetic about his rehab process ending with him walking out of the tunnel into U.S. Bank Stadium for a crucial game against his old team. But things don’t always work out the way they should. Otherwise, Hockenson wouldn’t have been on that path in the first place.

*An earlier version of this post misidentified which Lions game Hockenson got injured in. We regret the error.