T.J.Hockenson

News: 2 days agoHockenson caught three of four targets for 29 yards in Sunday's 9-3 win over the Bears.

Spin: Hockenson played 69.2 percent of the Vikings' offensive snaps and ran 19 routes to Josh Oliver's four on Carson Wentz's 24 dropbacks. While both tight ends are playing significant snaps for Minnesota, it's clear that Hockenson is the receiving tight end while Oliver focuses on blocking as a traditional in-line player. Through two games, Hockenson has seven catches for 65 yards and a touchdown on nine targets. He'll be in the low-end TE1 conversation most weeks and gets Kyler Murray (concussion) back under center for next Sunday's game against the Bucs.

ESPN Fantasy Projection: It's been a rough go for Hockenson since he peaked with a 95-960-5 receiving line in 2023. He tore an ACL in Week 16 that season and was limited to a 41-455-0 receiving line upon his return in 10 games in 2024. A bounce-back was expected in 2025, but Hockenson handled a weak 16% target share (his lowest since he was a rookie in 2019) and couldn't overcome the team's QB woes en route to a 51-438-3 showing. Hockenson has now followed four straight top-seven fantasy PPG seasons with finishes of 17th and 26th. The 29-year-old could very well get back on track in 2026, but he'll need solid play from Kyler Murray. Hockenson is a fringe TE1.