Vikings' T.J. Hockenson says NFL needs to look into low hits - ESPN

EAGAN, Minn. — Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson has had a long time to think about the controversial hit that ended his 2023 season and could keep him out from the start of 2024. Speaking publicly Monday for the first time since, Hockenson's mood boiled down to seven words.

«Obviously,» he said, «I wasn't too happy about it.»

As he continues his rehabilitation from torn ACL and MCL ligaments in his right knee, an injury he suffered from a direct hit by Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph in Week 16, Hockenson had plenty more to say. While stopping short of accusing Joseph of intending to injure him — or Los Angeles Rams tight end Tyler Higbee on an identical play in the playoffs — Hockenson said that players should protect one another as much as possible.

He called on the NFL to address why defenders can hit pass-catchers low in those situations, but offensive players can't cut-block in similar areas and said he would have preferred to have suffered a concussion on an illegal hit than a major knee injury on low but legal contact.

«It's tough,» Hockenson said. «It really is. We're big guys running through the middle of the field. This is a business, and I don't think anyone goes out on the field wanting to injure a player like that. So, I'm looking at the light of that and hoping that's not what the intent was, to injure a player in that sense. But I think to have it happen a couple weeks later [with Higbee], I think that's something the league needs to look and see what it can do.»

Hockenson and Joseph were teammates in Detroit for part of the 2022 season, before the Lions traded Hockenson to the Vikings. On Dec. 24, 2023, Hockenson had just pulled in a 24-yard reception over the middle when Joseph tackled him with a hit