It’s been almost four months since Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph buried his helmet into T.J. Hockenson’s knee, shredding the star Minnesota Vikings tight end’s knee on Christmas Eve.
“It’s definitely been a process throughout these months,” Hockenson said Monday, speaking to the media for the first time since the injury. “It’s been really good, though. You look at things a little differently. You kind of itch to get back out there. Just attacking it day by day.”
Hockenson can’t guarantee that he’ll be ready for the season opener in 2024, and while he rehabs the injury he’s still trying to come to grips with the hit that ended his season.
“Obviously, I wasn’t too happy about it,” Hockenson said when asked about Joseph’s hit. “That’s not a fun one to take. And that’s not necessarily based on him as a player. I’ve got nothing against him. I played with him in Detroit and I understand that’s kind of what they expect you to do in the league. But on the same hand, I would’ve much rather gone down with a concussion for two weeks than have to go through this for nine months.”
Hockenson later stated that he takes concussions seriously but a concussion likely would’ve kept him out for two or three weeks compared to the grueling process he’s now enduring. Beyond that, Hockenson is using his voice to let the NFL know that something has to change to protect receivers from taking blind hits to vulnerable parts of their body.
Hockenson was injured by Joseph on Dec. 24 and then two weeks later a similar hit by Joseph shredded the knee of Los Angeles Rams tight end Tyler Higbee.
That’s definitely a different conversation but you can’t cut outside the tackle box so it doesn’t really make sense why these guys are able to go as low as they are when you’re 25 yards downfield and you’re looking back at the quarterback and you don’t have any awareness. And then to have that happen again two weeks later, I didn’t really like that,” Hockenson said. “That’s probably the most extent I’ll say on that, but I definitely don’t think I have it against the player as much as the league putting the defense in those positions in order to have to do that.”
Defensive players aren’t allowed to hit offensive players above the shoulders with the crown of their helmet. The result of players trying to avoid hits up high may be dangerous hits to the joints, including the knees and ankles. The NFL just recently banned “hip drop” tackles after several stars were injured in 2023-24.
“I do the know the helmet was down both hits, staring at the ground with the crown of the helmet,” Hockenson said of Joseph’s tackles on him and Higbee.
“It’s tough. That’s not my job to look into that. I just know, when you have a guy 25 yards downfield looking back at the ball trying to make a play and then you have another guy not even staring at the defender and just kind of putting his helmet down at the knee, you see what happens with that.”
“That’s not a good football tackle, that’s not a good football position,” he added. “We’re not able to cut outside the box so I don’t necessarily understand why those guys are able to go low either, especially on a guy that’s looking back.”
And Hockenson hopes Joseph wasn’t targeting knees intentionally.
“I know Kerby pretty well. I’ve played with him. I don’t necessarily think it was (intentional),” Hockenson said. You go back on the tape and you see what happened, but I know him. I don’t think it was. I just want to make sure it wasn’t and that’s why I’m using my voice here. Players protect players and that’s in any facet of the league. You don’t want a defensive guy head hunting, you don’t want a defensive guy knee hunting and the same thing for an offensive guy.”
