Rumors Start Flying over T.J. Hockenson
The NFL trade deadline is eight days away, and with the Minnesota Vikings at a crossroads in 2025, some believe the club would be a seller this week and next, including possibly offloading tight end T.J. Hockenson to the highest bidder.
A two-game losing streak before the NFL’s trade deadline has created some wild Vikings discourse, and a T.J. Hockenson trade is the latest.
The fruition of Minnesota’s competitive rebuild process is the here and now, so it would be quite strange for general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to tear it down. He would be basically admitting his four-year-long rebuild didn’t work, which would call into question his job security.
Still, the Hockenson rumors are now a thing, though mainly just social media gossip.
T.J. Hockenson Trade Rumor Gains Little Legs
Some think Minnesota could ship Hockenson to a new team soon.
Sporting News Kickstarts Hockenson Trade Theories
The idea of a Hockenson trade took hold on various branches of social media since last Friday, and it appeared to sprout from the Sporting News.
Sizing up one trade each team should execute before the deadline, Vinnie Iyer wrote, “Best deal to make: Trade TE T.J. Hockenson to the Rams. Let’s start by saying the Vikings, at .500, are unlikely to make a deal either way with little glaring need and limited pending free agent assets.”
“But this would be interesting, given Hockenson keeps not producing as a key target for Kevin O’Connell but could turn out to be the missing third option in the adjacent Rams offense. Other players to watch: Falcons QB Kirk Cousins.”
Folks read that blurb in Iyer’s article and decided, “I guess T.J. Hockenson is getting traded.”
Mainly Social Media Fodder
The Hockenson rumor ran rampant on Facebook, X, and Instagram, so well-travelled that it felt credibly sourced.
However, there is no evidence from the team or NFL insiders that Hockenson is legitimately on the trade block. What happened? Well, readers saw Iyer’s article and used it as fodder to believe Hockenson was actually on the trade market.
In reality, Iyer posted a trade or player from every team who could be moved before the deadline. He just happened to pick Hockenson as a “what if.”
A Symbolic End to 2025?
If the Vikings fulfilled Iyer’s recommendation, the trade would mark the end of Minnesota as a serious team in 2025. Before the regular season, the Vikings professed playoff contendership, constructing a roster ready to win now. In fact, if one assumed that J.J. McCarthy would stay healthy and perform at a decent clip, Minnesota could have been considered a Super Bowl contender.
McCarthy has not been healthy, and his substitute, Carson Wentz, has played poorly in his stead. Couple those developments with a team ravaged by injury, and the purple team has a 3-4 record, with eight days before the trade deadline.
If Adofo-Mensah trades Hockenson, fans would be forced to accept a lost season, with a team that has shifted focus to 2026 and beyond.
The Dead Cap Penalty if Traded
There’s also the financial hiccup. Trading Hockenson would slap a meaty dead cap penalty onto Minnesota’s ledger in 2025 and 2026. After Adofo-Mensah’s competitive rebuild, which arguably ended after the 2024 offseason, the Vikings sat in fanciful shape, ridding themselves of the dead cap burden created by former boss Rick Spielman.
Offloading Hockenson would dive right back into the dead cap era, perhaps starting an avalanche of getting rid of other players and simply eating their salaries.
Most assumed that Minnesota’s Super Bowl window opened in 2024 or 2025. Selling men like Hockenson would slam that door shut and possibly start the rebuild mentality over all after the fruits of the most recent rebuild netted next to nothing.
SI.com on the Hockenson-Rams Trade Theory
Brock Vierra, who covers the Rams, wrote about the trade idea, “In my opinion, that means the Rams would have to trade at least a day two pick for Hockenson, and while they don’t need a plethora of picks at the moment, contracts get expensive, and the draft gives the Rams more of a chance to find cheap replacements than anywhere else. Thus, I don’t think they’re paying.”
“Hockenson will have cap hits upwards of $20 million in 2026 and 2027. In 2026, the Rams should be fine financially but in 2027, that is when the presumed extensions of Byron Young, Kobie Turner, Puka Nacua, and others should kick in and the last thing the Rams need is a big bill on an aging veteran with documented health issues. There are two questions to ask. Which tight end do the Rams get rid off for Hockenson and can he stay healthy?”
Hockenson will turn 29 next summer.
“The tight end would likely bypass Colby Parkinson as he’s the most expensive but the Rams need Parkinson for depth, especially since Hockenson has missed multiple games due to injury in 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2024. The last thing the Rams need is an injury-prone, expensive player who operates at one of the most physical positions in football. Acquiring Hockenson is as foolish as the rumor was to begin with,” Vierra added.
“The Rams do not have the need, roster space, or cap space to pull this off and feel confident that they didn’t just tank their financial future. This is a no-go for me.”
Some have speculated that Hockenson would fetch a 3rd-Rounder in a swap, but more realistically, Minnesota would probably get a 4th- or 5th-Rounder due to his age and salary.
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