Kyler Murray may be doing more than stabilizing the Minnesota Vikings’ offense. He could be setting up a decision that gets expensive fast.
The Vikings have spent much of the season trying to find their footing on offense, dealing with injuries after Murray won the starting job in training camp. But the last two games before the bye hinted at something better, and one of the clearest beneficiaries has been T.J. Hockenson.
Hockenson is in the final year of his contract, and the way he finishes the season could shape whether Minnesota wants to keep paying him next spring. He has already given the Vikings plenty to think about. Against the Miami Dolphins in Week 4, he caught 13 passes for 119 yards and would have added a touchdown late in the game if the coaches had not told him to go down to help burn clock.
His next game brought a setback, as an early catch against the New Orleans Saints ended with a concussion in the Week 5 win. Even so, the early usage was a sign of where this offense may be headed, and Murray’s tendencies could be a big reason Hockenson keeps climbing into the center of it.
Hockenson’s path in Minnesota has already been eventful. The Vikings got him in 2022 in a trade with the Detroit Lions that cost a 2023 second-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick. He arrived and immediately looked like a major upgrade over Irv Smith Jr., finishing the final 10 games of 2022 with 60 catches for 519 yards and three touchdowns, then posting 95 receptions for 960 yards and five touchdowns in 2023.
That production led the Vikings to lock him up on a four-year, $66 million deal, which made him the NFL’s highest-paid tight end at the time. But his trajectory changed when he suffered a multiligament knee injury after a hit from Lions safety Kerby Joseph on Christmas Eve 2023.
He missed the first half of 2024 while recovering and has not looked fully like himself since, totaling 92 catches for 893 yards and three touchdowns in 25 games over the past two seasons. Minnesota responded by restructuring his contract, which left him set to hit free agency after this year.
The early part of this season was modest. Hockenson had nine catches for 76 yards and a touchdown in the first three weeks. Then came the Dolphins game, when the Vikings leaned into a Murray trait that has shown up before: feeding tight ends.
That pattern was easy to spot in Murray’s final years in Arizona. With Trey McBride emerging as an elite target, Murray threw 111 passes his way during McBride’s first Pro Bowl season in 2024. Before a foot injury ended Murray’s 2025 season, McBride had already been targeted 42 times through five games, tying Jake Ferguson for the most among tight ends and tying for ninth in the NFL.
From the start of the 2024 season until Murray went down, McBride drew 147 targets, second among tight ends behind Brock Bowers of the Las Vegas Raiders, who had 153, and eighth among all pass catchers. McBride also ranked fourth in receptions with 111 and 11th in receiving yards with 1,146 in that span. That kind of usage is exactly why Hockenson could be in line for a strong finish.
Even in the Week 5 game he did not complete, there was more to like for Minnesota’s pass catchers. Gavin Bartholomew’s six targets trailed only Justin Jefferson’s seven, and while many of those throws were short checkdowns, they still matter over the course of a season.
Spotrac currently projects Hockenson’s next deal at $10.2 million per season, barely shy of the $10.25 million he signed for last offseason. If he keeps producing, that figure is only going to rise, and Minnesota will be staring at a tricky call.
Hockenson turns 30 next July, and a strong finish would put an extension squarely back on the table. He has said he would like to remain in Minnesota beyond this season, though he made clear at training camp that his focus is elsewhere for now.
“That’s not really my focus right now,” Hockenson said. “I mean, my focus is just this year, and you know, we’ll figure that out when it happens. But…I’ve always said that there’s been no secrets on how much I love this place and how much I enjoy being there.”
If Hockenson gets his wish and stays, Murray’s willingness to keep looking his way would make that case stronger. And if the targets keep coming, the Vikings may have no choice but to pay up.
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