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This offseason, the Detroit Lions have made a habit of rewarding their own solid in-house players with new contracts, and that theme could continue well into the future.
The Lions want to build around players who earn their keep with toughness and solid play, and names like Tracy Walker, Josh Reynolds, Charles Harris and Kalif Raymond have been brought back ahead of hitting the market. Now, the same is being speculated for tight end T.J. Hockenson.
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In a new ESPN piece courtesy of insider Jeremy Fowler, the cases of several younger players on soon expiring deals around the league are examined. Who amongst the group is heading for a new deal soon? Detroit didn’t have much representation on the list, but Hockenson was one of their bigger headliners.
Fowler wrote in the case of Hockenson, “don’t be surprised” if the team gets a deal done this summer. This is due to the fact that Hockenson has been “their most reliable pass-catching option” lately.
If there is only one question about Hockenson, it’s health. The tight end has seen two out of his first three season as being injury riddled. When he’s been healthy, though, Hockenson has been elite. For this reason, the health angle might not matter much to the Lions. The team might simply choose to get a deal finished soon.
Lions Just Exercised Hockenson’s Fifth-Year Option
For the short-term future, Hockenson isn’t going anywhere. This offseason, the Lions agreed to bring Hockenson back on a fifth-year option. That decision cost the team $9.4 million for this coming season, meaning it will be well within the interest of the team to find a way to negotiate a longer-term contract soon. The option will buy the team time if they cannot find a deal, but the expectation remains that something could get done between the sides to not only ensure Hockenson’s long-term future in Detroit, but help the team financially as well.
Detroit’s move with the option on April 26 means Hockenson isn’t going anywhere, but that might only be an appetizer for what’s to come between the sides in the months ahead.
Hockenson’s Career Stats & Highlights
There is simply no understating the importance of Hockenson to the Lions in the future moving forward in 2021 and beyond. The team hasn’t gotten much of anything from any of the other tight ends on their roster the last few years, and while he hasn’t had the most dramatic statistical impact thus far in his career, Hockenson has easily been one of the team’s top rookies in 2019 and 2020 and a player capable of impacting both the run and the passing games.
During his rookie season in 2019 after being a first-round pick out of Iowa, many fans were upset with Hockenson for not making a bigger impact on the game. He had only 367 yards and 2 touchdowns on the year which is not the statistical impact that many people expected from him as a top selection for the team. 2020 was a major bounce back from that, though, and Hockenson put up 723 yards and 6 touchdowns to rebound well. This season, Hockenson put up 583 yards and 4 touchdowns to his credit and at times has been the only top pass catcher for the team given other injuries on the roster.
Here’s a look at some of Hockenson’s biggest career plays from 2020 season:
Clearly, Hockenson is on the right track to being thought of as one of the best players in the league at his position. If he keeps trending upward and stays healthy, the team will have no choice but to do a long-term deal with him that keeps him around.
That move could be set to play out sooner rather than later in Detroit.
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