The Lions drafted T.J. Hockenson eighth overall to be one of the best tight ends in the NFL. Three years later, the question remains: Is he?
“I know where I’m at and I know what I can do as a tight end,” Hockenson said Thursday. “That’s where everybody wants to be, is at the top of their class and at the top of the league at their position, and I obviously have an idea. I know what I can do at the position that helps everybody (on our offense).”
There are various ways to measure a tight end, one of the most demanding positions in football. Most of us go straight to the box score. Hockenson isn't on the same level as stars like Travis Kelce, George Kittle and Darren Waller. His stat line in the Lions’ season-opening loss to the Eagles last week – four catches for 38 yards – was a snapshot of his first three seasons in the NFL: 4.0 receptions per game for 41.8 yards. But Hockenson prefers to measure himself by a broader standard: “My impact on the game.”
“When you go back and watch the tape, that’s really what you want to see, is a positive impact on the team and on the game. That’s not always yards and catches,” he said. “It’s what you did in the run game, what you did in the pass game, how you protected and blocked and things like that. The tight end position is unique. You have to do everything.”
You do. (And perhaps this is why tight ends should be paid more. “That’s a conversation for another time,” Hockenson said with a smile.) Hockenson does a number of things well and a couple things better than almost any player at his position, like making plays in the air. He ranked first among tight ends last season in contested catch rate (78.6 percent), despite spending most games as the focal point of opposing defenses. His life should get easier this season in an offense with more weapons. At least in theory. Hockenson said the Eagles “still had the guys they want on me” in Week 1.
“Which is fine,” he said. “I love when they put their best DB or best safety on me coming down and think they can put one-on-one coverage on me and have a good matchup with it. I personally take that to heart and start licking my chops when that happens. We got guys (this year) that can spread it out and that just makes it easier for me because I don’t have a safety over the top. That was the biggest thing I noticed, is that the safety has to play more in the middle of the field instead of toward my way, so now I get a true one-on-one and a true man-to-man. And that’s nice, because I can win that nine times out of 10."
Hockenson did not have his best day against the Eagles, though he did make a key first-down catch on the Lions’ first touchdown drive and drew a pass interference call to extend their last one. He failed to create much separation on his routes. He committed a holding penalty while trying to block for D’Andre Swift, one snap before he had a miscommunication with Jared Goff that led to a pick-six and a 21-7 first half deficit. His imprint on the game was faint. As in most cases with Hockenson, you were left with the feeling that he could have done more.
Beyond the stats, that’s what seems to separate Hockenson from the elite players his position. He doesn’t break enough defenses. He doesn’t change enough games. Too often, he’s a peripheral piece of the action. And yet, it feels like he can do more. He has done more. Entering last season, Hockenson was voted by his peers as one of the top 100 players in the NFL and the No. 4 tight end, behind Kelce, Kittle and Waller.
“He’s a freak,” said OL Garrett Bolles of the Broncos. “He does it all,” said LB Devin White of the Bucs.
“A guy that I think is just going to keep getting better and better,” said Waller.
Instead, Hockenson stalled. After making the Pro Bowl in 2020, he only marginally increased his receiving numbers and didn’t show much growth as a blocker. He finished eighth among tight ends in yards per game (48.6), 18th in yards per target and 21st in yards per reception. Entering this season, his peers dropped him from the top 100. He fell from the NFL’s No. 5 tight end to No. 7 in ESPN’s annual ranking and from No. 7 to No. 9 in that of Pro Football Focus.
PFF ranked him, rather ingloriously, in its third tier of tight ends: ‘Best of the Rest.’
Asked where he would rank himself at his position, Hockenson smiled and said, “I’m not going to give you a number on that.”
“But like I said, I definitely think of myself as one of the top guys in the league in being able to impact the game and win one-on-ones whenever my number is called -- and my number’s not always called. Some guys are always in the scheme, and that’s not the case (for me) all the time. I get that and I just try to impact the game in other ways,” he said.
This is the start of year four for Hockenson, and a critical juncture of his career. GM Brad Holmes and the Lions have picked up his fifth-year option for next season, but a long-term extension remains a question mark. Hockenson said last week in an interview with the Free Press that talks between the two sides have yet to begin, reiterating that he’ll “leave that up to my agent and those guys” and focus on playing football. He still has a lot to prove to Holmes, Dan Campbell and the Lions’ new regime.
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"The biggest thing is really to maximize his potential," said tight ends coach Tanner Engstrand. “What he does well, how can we get that to the next level and everything else that he does is just raising his level, his game. How much can he dominate? Can he be that guy? We know he can be. And he has been at times, so we’re excited to see where that takes us."
Kelce raised his level in year four, breaking out for 85 catches and over 1,100 yards. So did Waller, breaking out for 90 catches and over 1,100 yards. And so did Mark Andrews, breaking out for 107 catches and over 1,300 yards last season. Along with Kittle, whose breakout came in year two, these four comprise the best of the best at tight end. Kyle Pitts, drafted fourth overall by the Falcons last year, isn’t far behind.
Pitts put up over 1,000 yards as a rookie. This is what you might envision out of a top-10 pick. Hockenson has yet to average 50 yards per game, but his responsibilities run deeper than catching passes. Engstrand said the primary focus for Hockenson this offseason was improving his blocking at the point of attack to “become a player we could really rely on and run behind when needed.” This is one of the many ways in which Hockenson can ‘impact the game.’
“I’ve always prided myself as a three-down tight end and not having to come out of the game on first and second down because it’s a run play or having to come out because it’s a pass play,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to win one-on-ones in man coverage, I want to win in the run game and then I want to be able to pass protect.
“That’s what I see the tight end position being, more of that rather than just a receiver. There should be a snap count on how many times you’re inline to be called a tight end.”
To be called a top tight end, to be the player the former regime was hoping for and the current one is waiting for, Hockenson will have to take his game to new heights.
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