Kevin O’Connell said so on Wednesday
We now know when Minnesota Vikings’ star tight end T.J. Hockenson might finally be making his return to the team.
During his press conference on Wednesday afternoon, head coach Kevin O’Connell said that they would open the practice window for Hockenson’s return from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) List on Friday. He also said that the team will wait longer to do the same for offensive lineman Dalton Risner, who is on injured reserve.
If the Vikings open Hockenson’s practice window on Friday, they have 21 days from that date to decide whether to add him to the active roster or not. They’ll certainly do it by then. . .after all, if they don’t he goes back onto the PUP List and his season is over. That means the last day that they could add him to the active roster would be 25 October.
Should the Vikings wait until that final day to bring Hockenson back, it means that Hockenson will miss the team’s next three games. He would miss the team’s Week 5 matchup this coming Sunday against the Jets in London, and he would also miss the Week 7 home game against Detroit and their road trip to Los Angeles on a short week in Week 8.
That game against the Rams takes place on 24 October, the day before the Vikings would have to make their final decision. The team could, obviously, activate him before then, but you would think they’d wait until after the Lions game if that were the case. After all, if you’re bringing a guy back from a significant injury, asking him to play two games in the space of five days might be a bit much. But they could activate him early enough to play a role in the Rams game and then give him a week and a half to rest and recover before Minnesota’s Week 9 game against the Indianapolis Colts at U.S. Bank Stadium on 3 November.
There hasn’t been any indication as to how the Vikings are going to play things with Hockenson’s practice window, but we now know what sort of time frame they’re officially going to be looking at. Here’s hoping the home stretch of Hockenson’s rehab goes smoothly and he’s ready to play a role in a Vikings season that is going much better than many expected thus far.