Credit: Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings will not be in London for very long. They flew out on Thursday night, and went right to work on Friday. They’ll try to get their bodies and brains working with their current timezone on Saturday, before playing the New York Jets at 8:30 Sunday morning.
Because they have a bye next week, the Vikings plan to enjoy their Sunday evening out and about London. Monday, they’ll fly back to the USA. Nonetheless, the team still brought injured 2x Pro Bowl tight end TJ Hockenson on the trip.
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TJ Hockenson activated from Minnesota Vikings PUP List
Not only did they bring him along, though. On Friday, they activated their 27-year-old game-changer TE off the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. The move triggered TJ’s 21-day practice window, officially starting the clock on his return.
In 2023, TJ Hockenson racked up career-bests in receiving yards (960) and receptions (97). The former Iowa Hawkeye star played in just 15 games. His five touchdowns were just one off of a career-high. His return will make an already tough to handle Vikings offense into an unstoppable force.
Every starter on the Minnesota Vikings made the trip overseas to London. After releasing two very clean injury reports on Wednesday and Thursday, the Vikings had just one player listed on Friday. It was TJ Hockenson (OUT).
What does Hockenson’s activation mean for Vikings?
In a technical sense, today’s roster move allows the Minnesota Vikings to elevate TJ Hockenson to the active roster at any time. If he was ready, they could do it before Sunday’s matchup. Obviously, today’s injury report says that won’t happen. Nonetheless, he is now eligible to be elevated to the active 53-man roster at any time.
Related: Minnesota Vikings Cut Bait with RB, Sign TE to Active Roster
What it really means is that Vikings fans can expect TJ Hockenson to return anytime between weeks 7 and 9. The more likely dates floating around are Thursday, October 24 (week 8 vs @ LA Rams) and Sunday, November 3 (week 9 vs Colts). If TJ cannot be elevated to the active roster by October 25, he would go back on PUP for the remainder of the season.
But there have been some hints sent out recently suggesting a return immediately after the Vikings’ bye is not impossible. Hell, a couple days ago Kevin Seifert (ESPN) wasn’t even willing to completely rule Hockenson out this weekend.
Vikings will open T.J. Hockenson’s PUP practice window on FRIDAY, per Kevin O’Connell. He’ll travel with the team to London and have his first practice there. Doesn’t seem to be a chance he will play vs. Jets but the process has begun.
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 2, 2024
Now that he’s been officially ruled out for Sunday’s matchup in London vs the Jets, his next possible opportunity will be October 20 vs his old team, the Detroit Lions.
Related: 4 Stats to Know for New York Jets vs Vikings Matchup in London, Analyzing Impact
I think TJ would probably admit, given his quote below, that it will be difficult to keep him off the field at U.S. Bank Stadium vs his old Motor City Kitties, especially because he’ll probably be feeling really good with two weeks of practice under his pads, by then.
T.J. Hockenson: "I've been pushing to get out there as fast as I can. But obviously, I told them at the beginning, I'm kind of a workhorse. I'm going to do everything times two that you're going to tell me to do. You're going to have to put the reins on me and hold me back."
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 2, 2024
Mentioned in this article: Injury Report injury updates T.J. Hockenson TJ Hockenson
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