The Minnesota Vikings waived Robert Tonyan on Tuesday, and shortly thereafter re-signed him to the practice squad in a move that seems to signal that T.J. Hockenson’s return is imminent.
Hockenson, a two-time Pro Bowler, hasn’t appeared since Week 16 against the Lions last season when he suffered a torn ACL.
A Hockenson return would be a huge boost for an offense that has not gotten much production from tight ends this season. Vikings tight ends have combined for 18 receptions (29th in the NFL) and just 125 receiving yards (last in the NFL).
In 25 games with the Vikings, Hockenson has 155 receptions, 1,479 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns.
From the “no sh*t, Sherlock” department, the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling reports that the rumors of the Vikings targeting Matthew Stafford are not true.
Checking in on the Matthew Stafford-to-the-Vikings rumors I’ve been getting lots of questions about. Source said there’s zero truth to the idea the Vikings are trying to trade for him.
— Ben Goessling (@BenGoessling) October 23, 2024
The rumors never made sense anyway. Sam Darnold has outplayed Stafford in pretty much every statistical aspect this season, is only signed for the rest of the season and is nearly a decade younger. Stafford has a cap number of more than $53 million next season and is technically signed through 2026, though he can opt out after next season with nearly $23 million in dead cap.
Minnesota Vikings News and Links
Over on The Athletic, Alec Lewis asks how much the Vikings really should be buyers — at least in regard to the widespread belief that they’re going to not only be in the market, but potentially take a big swing.
The Vikings will be buyers at the trade deadline, but how hard should they swing?
As Lewis notes, draft capital is in short supply for 2025, so any moves would be with picks further in the future — a dangerous proposition in a league that has very little year-to-year continuity.
How big of a swing would you take? Lewis has a list of positions and players, and lists if they’d be a big swing or not for this front office.
Over on Purple Insider, Matthew Coller has a deep-dive on what did or didn’t work after his study of the All-22 tape.
Film study: Hitting on motions, missing on blitzes
One of his contentions that I agree with is that Sam Darnold played well, but certainly left some things on the table. For me, I’d look no further than the third-down play where he failed to link up with Justin Jefferson for a first down that would have made running down the clock the rest of the way — or most of it — possible.
Good film study here.
One writer I haven’t profiled before is John Boyd over on Zone Coverage, and he had an intriguing piece up Wednesday morning looking into whether Brian Flores’ defense can hide some of its woes that became obvious against the Lions last Sunday.
Can Brian Flores Hide His Defense’s Pressure Points Against Sean McVay
He’s not wrong; in a copycat league, it would truly be worrisome if the Lions provided the blueprint for cracking this Flores defense which had been so dominant through the season’s first seven weeks. Also, how does a short week play into this — both from the standpoint of the Rams having limited time to adjust and the same being true for Flores’ defense.
While we’re all in a frenzy over the NFL Trade Deadline, how about a look at three players Luke Norris thinks could fit for the Vikings — and who are reasonably attainable.
3 Realistic trades Vikings could make ahead of the NFL Trade Deadline
Each of these three are names I hadn’t previously considered, and would be nice gets. But with that said, are they really all attainable? I have my doubts. Beefing up Brian Flores’ defense has to be a priority if they do make a trade though, right?
In the news
- With trade rumors swirling around Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, trade season is in full effect. Following the trades of Amari Cooper and Davante Adams, the injury-ravaged Chiefs got in on the action by trading a conditional pick to the Titans for DeAndre Hopkins. The Hopkins return is that the Titans get a 2025 fifth-round pick that becomes a fourth-round pick if the Chiefs make the Super Bowl and Hopkins plays 60% of the snaps.
- Kupp was a full participant in Tuesday’s practice, so assuming he’s still on the roster he’ll be active Thursday. Puka Nacua’s 21-day practice window was opened earlier this week, but he was limited and seems unlikely to return until next week.
- Speaking of wideouts who could be on the block, the Panthers opened Adam Thielen’s practice window on Wednesday. Thielen hasn’t played since Week 4 due to a hamstring injury, and would clearly take a backseat to Diontae Johnson in the Panthers woebegone offense whenever he returns. His status is worth watching as the deadline approaches.
- Fox Sports’ Greg Auman wrote earlier this week that Hunter Renfrow is closer to “retired” than he is “unsigned.” Some folks on Twitter suggested him as an option for the Vikings when KJ Osborn departed.
- By the way, has reportedly been unhappy with his role in New England. When asked if he’d like to be traded, he responded: “It’s like an alley-oop. This is where I am. This is the place I signed to be. A lot of things are out of my control, but I would like to be where my feet are. So today I’m here, so now I’ll rock with it as it goes.” That’s a lot of words to say a whole lot of nothing, all the while dispelling not a single part of the assertion that he’s unhappy. Oof.
- Colts star running back Jonathan Taylor returned to practice on Wednesday. He’s been dealing with a significant ankle sprain, but if he can go this weekend, he’ll likely be available against the Vikings in Week 9.
- Another running back nearing a return is former Viking Cordarrelle Patterson, who may play this week against the Giants after missing the last three games for the Steelers.
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