According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Vikings are keeping TE T.J. Hockenson on the PUP list to start the season, making him ineligible to play in the first four games.
Schefter adds that Hockenson is expected to return at some point this season as he recovers from a torn ACL suffered last December.
Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Minnesota is also placing UDFA LB Gabriel Murphy on short-term injured reserve to start the season.
Hockenson, 27, is a former first-round pick of the Lions back in 2019. He was in the fourth year of his four-year rookie deal worth $19,821,230 when the Lions traded him to the Vikings, acquiring a second and a third in exchange for also including two fourths.
The Lions had exercised Hockenson’s fifth-year option slated to cost $9.4 million guaranteed for the 2023 season. He then signed a four-year, $68.5 million extension with Minnesota back in August of 2023.
In 2023, Hockenson appeared in 15 games for the Vikings and recorded 95 receptions for 960 yards and five touchdowns.
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