If there was a ever a decision made by the Minnesota Vikings that the rest of the world agreed with, it was Tuesday’s trade deadline blockbuster to acquire former Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson.
Minnesota dealt a second-round pick in 2023 and a third-round pick in 2024 to the Lions for Hockenson along with a fourth-round pick in 2023 and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2024. That pick turns into a fifth-rounder if the Vikings win a playoff game, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Will Compton, a respected NFL analyst who had a blue checkmark on Twitter before Elon Musk started letting anyone buy them, thinks the Lions got taken to the cleaners by Minnesota.
“What are you doing?” he said. “Minnesota stole from you. They put the ski mask on and walked in and said, ‘Give us all your (expletive) money. Give us all your assets.’ T.J. Hockenson? One of the better young tight ends in the (expletive) league.”
Holy shit what are the Lions doing
This is a catastrophic move pic.twitter.com/0pvT0rL6vo
— Will Compton (@_willcompton) November 1, 2022
“(T.J. Hockenson’s) a phenomenal player so I think it’s a great move. Gives them offensive flexibility where (Jefferson & Thielen) don’t always have to be your big-play guys. You’ve got another dude who can eat safeties up,” FOX analyst Mark Schlereth told Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press.
Pat McAfee also loved it, calling Hockenson a “stallion” who teams want to “build around.”
“Congrats to the Lions for letting all their fans know exactly where we are this season,” McAfee said, then jokingly imitating the Lions and their decision to trade Hockenson to a division rival: “You know if we’re trading him, we want to see him twice.”
BREAKING: The Detroit Lions are trading TJ Hockenson to the Minnesota Vikings#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/sQFeQftkKS
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 1, 2022
CBS Sports graded the trade an A for the Vikings and a D+ for Detroit.
“Detroit absolutely deserved to be dealing ahead of the deadline, but why on Earth was their big play to sell off one of their few proven building blocks?” the report card reads.
Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus joked about Minnesota making a terrible deal with the Jets for tight end Chris Herndon last year and now making amends with a great trade for a tight end this year.
Minnesota made one of the worst trades for a TE in NFL history and a really good trade for a TE one year apart
— Brad Spielberger, Esq. (@SpielbergerBrad) November 1, 2022
No matter how you slice it, everyone thinks the Vikings dominated the trade.
