The 2023 season was a tough one for the Minnesota Vikings. Several key offensive players missed significant time and that’s why they finished 7-10. One player who stayed relatively healthy until the end of the season was T.J. Hockenson. He was having a solid season for the Vikings until a brutal injury in Week 15 vs. the Lions.
Hockenson tore the MCL and ACL in his right knee on December 24th. Doctors advised him to wait until his MCL had healed to then get the ACL surgery. On Monday, the Vikings confirmed that Hockenson had surgery. They could not give a timetable as to when he will be able to return. Training camp in the NFL is roughly six months away. There’s plenty of time for him to recover and be ready for the start of 2024.
T.J. Hockenson had surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee
#Vikings TE TJ Hockenson underwent a successful surgery today to repair his ACL. They waited to let his MCL tear heal on its own before doing surgery on the ACL.
Recovery starts now. #skol pic.twitter.com/zniZJsWcfg
— Vikings Nation (@vikingsnationmn) January 30, 2024
On December 24th, Hockenson suffered the injury in the 3rd game against the Lions. Detroit’s safety Kirby Joseph hit the Pro Bowl TE in the knee and it was a vicious hit. A few weeks later, Rams’ TE Tyler Higbee suffered an almost identical injury on a hit by Joesph in the playoffs. Head coach Kevin O’Connell had some comments after the game to back Hockenson for taking a low hit.
He detailed how the league has done a nice job penalizing head and neck hits. However, O’Connell thinks something needs to be done about the low hits. This was before Lions’ safety Kirby Joseph injured Tyler Higbee the same way a few weeks later. Rams head coach Sean McVay had to feel a similar way about the low hits that seriously injured their players.
Credit to @DWolfsonKSTP for being all over this last week — TJ Hockenson’s surgery delayed a few weeks. Timeline to get back for Week 1 will be very tight. https://t.co/0yivbzppfB
— Phil Mackey 🎙 (@PhilMackey) January 30, 2024
This past season, T.J. Hockenson was having a great year until the injury happened. While certain players on the offense missed time, he remained consistent when he was healthy. His (960) receiving yards and (95) catches were a new career-high for the 26-year-old. It was an unfortunate injury he suffered, but there’s a chance he is ready for Week 1 of the 2024 season. We’ll wait and see just how quickly Hockenson can recover before training camp and preseason begins.
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