Everyone is always eager to react and grade trades when they happen. The same goes for the NFL Draft, but it takes time to see how things play out before you get a clear-cut winner and loser from the deal.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell took on the task of looking over trades from the 2023 season, including the Vikings‘ move to get Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson. The move was a shocker at the time for a variety of reasons, mainly due to it being done between two division rivals. The move remains one that the Vikings are looking to get the most out of but a torn ACL has affected Hockenson over the last two seasons.
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Since that injury, he has not looked like the version the team acquired from Detroit.
Barnwell discusses the trade, writing, “Hockenson posted career-high receiving totals in 2022 and then again in 2023, but those were more a product of running more routes than becoming more efficient. The two-time Pro Bowler had his 2023 season sidelined by a torn ACL and hasn’t looked quite as explosive since returning halfway through the 2024 campaign. Even with that being true, the Vikings did get meaningful production out of him in 2022 and 2023, and there’s a lot of time in 2025 for Hockenson to turn things around.”
Barnwell gives the trade as a slight win for the Vikings, but there is still to improve on it.
This article originally appeared on Vikings Wire: Looking back, who won the Vikings trade for T.J. Hockenson?