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Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson has officially been ruled out for his team's Thursday Night Football game against the Los Angeles Rams, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported on Thursday (October 24).
Hockenson was listed as questionable on the Vikings' injury report Wednesday (October 23) as he continues to working his way back from surgery on ACL and MCL tears in his right knee during Week 16 of the 2023 NFL regular season and would have need to be added to the Vikings' 53-man roster from the reserve/PUP list in order to be eligible for Thursday's game.
"The #Vikings are downgrading TE T.J. Hockenson to out for tonight’s game against the #Rams. Coming up on the nine-month anniversary of his ACL reconstruction, Hockenson is expected to be activated from injured reserve Friday and make his season debut Nov. 3 vs. the #Colts," Pelissero wrote on his X account.
Minnesota opened Hockenson's 21-day practice window on October 4 and has listed him as a limited participant each day since.
“Yeah, it’s early. We’ll make that determination these next couple days,” O’Connell said Monday (October 21) when asked about the possibility of Hockenson making his season debut in Week 8. “Very much a possibility.”
Hockenson led all NFL tight ends and all Vikings players with 960 receiving yards and ranked second at his position for receptions (95) and eighth for touchdown receptions (5) at the time of his injury last December. The Vikings are currently tied for first place with the Detroit Lions -- who own a tiebreaker for their win in the two teams' Week 7 matchup on Sunday (October 20) -- having began the season with five consecutive wins.