{"id":264228,"date":"2026-02-02T15:30:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T20:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=264228"},"modified":"2026-02-01T21:35:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T02:35:33","slug":"firesale-inbound-vikings-latest-news-could-reveal-a-blockbuster-tj-hockenson-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/02\/02\/firesale-inbound-vikings-latest-news-could-reveal-a-blockbuster-tj-hockenson-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Firesale Inbound? Vikings Latest News Could Reveal a Blockbuster Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Minnesota Vikings have fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, which means the team could be bound to trade tight end TJ Hockenson in a possible overhaul. <a href=\"https:\/\/nflspinzone.com\/nfl-trade-rumors-3-tj-hockenson-landing-spots-if-vikings-have-fire-sale-01kg85eneh9g\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">According to a source<\/a>, the Vikings might be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/47779886\/vikings-fire-gm-kwesi-adofo-mensah-4-seasons\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">preparing to rebuild<\/a> after having an abysmal season led by quarterback JJ McCarthy. It doesn&#8217;t seem like the team would draft another quarterback, but it seems likely to give this offense some life. After letting Sam Darnold walk to a new team and lead the Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl, many players in the Vikings organization are unhappy, and rightfully so.<\/p>\n<p>Many push for Darnold to remain as their starter after the season he put up in 2024 while McCarthy was healing from a season-ending injury. With the Vikings probably making changes to the roster, it makes sense for the team to consider trading Hockenson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: 600px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBrd5lQ1Gv\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 1857px; aspect-ratio: 1857\/1238;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h2>Vikings Latest General Manager News Could Reveal a Blockbuster TJ Hockenson Trade<\/h2>\n<p>The Vikings find themselves in a hole as far as cap space. It shouldn&#8217;t be any surprise if the team begins to release or trade a ton of talent during the offseason. Originally selected in the first round, the former two-time Pro Bowler joined the Vikings via a rare trade with the Detroit Lions. It was shocking, but the Lions loved their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/07\/10\/2024-fantasy-football-profile-sam-laporta\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">current starting tight end Sam LaPorta<\/a>, and the team probably made the right decision trading Hockenson. After joining the Vikings, the 28-year-old began a clean season during the 2023 campaign on injured reserve.<\/p>\n<p>Despite signing a four-year extension, the team didn&#8217;t see much production out of the tight end until near last season. It wasn&#8217;t the best numbers, but he should have market if the Vikings are willing to trade the tight end.<\/p>\n<h2>Possible Fits<\/h2>\n<h3>Kansas City Chiefs<\/h3>\n<p>With Travis Kelce <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eonline.com\/news\/1427959\/kylie-kelce-addresses-taylor-swift-travis-kelce-wedding\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">set to marry Taylor Swift this summer<\/a>, the Kansas City Chiefs could lose the long-time tight end to retirement. The Kansas City Chiefs aren&#8217;t in the best financial situation to entertain any trade, but they could squeeze one in during the offseason. While the Chiefs may draft a tight end, they should grab another in free agency for the experience.<\/p>\n<p>The team doesn&#8217;t have a ton of options despite having <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/04\/10\/2021-nfl-draft-noah-gray-player-profile\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Noah Gray<\/a> waiting in the wings. Hockenson easily has one of the better hands as a tight end for some decent time, so it wouldn&#8217;t be a surprise if the Chiefs create some cap space to make it happen.<\/p>\n<h3>Baltimore Ravens<\/h3>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Ravens will search for a new tight end despite <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/01\/20\/mark-andrews-ravens-tight-end-dynasty-outlook\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">extending veteran Mark Andrews<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/04\/16\/2022-nfl-draft-isaiah-likely-scouting-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Isaiah Likely<\/a> played out his entire contract on a strong note and probably will receive a big payday elsewhere. This means Andrew needs backup, and the Ravens could entertain the idea of trading for Hockenson. While they don&#8217;t seem like they&#8217;ll replace Andrews anytime soon, it&#8217;s still a possibility after Baltimore came close to trading the veteran last offseason.<\/p>\n<h3>Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/h3>\n<p>After failing somehow to reach the playoffs this past season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have tons of players they need to retain. While tight end <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/falcons-43-million-free-agent-171836415.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cade Otton<\/a> wants to return, it doesn&#8217;t seem like the Buccaneers are interested, as the team hasn&#8217;t begun any extension talks. With that, the Buccaneers can get another big-bodied weapon like Hockenson for Baker Mayfield, who is in danger of losing top receiver Mike Evans this upcoming offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Minnesota Vikings could enter a rebuild this 2026 offseason after firing their general manager, which could signal this massive trade. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4795,"featured_media":264230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,10,16,26,6431,29],"tags":[7723,9132,7811,9115,7466,7753,7638,9621,7331,9489,339],"class_list":["post-264228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-ravens","category-chiefs","category-vikings","category-nfl-teams","category-buccaneers","tag-baltimore-ravens-news","tag-cade-otton","tag-chiefs-featured","tag-isaiah-likely","tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","tag-minnesota-vikings-news","tag-ravens-featured","tag-sam-laporta","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers-news","tag-tj-hockenson","tag-travis-kelce"],"modified_by":"Anthony Palacios","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264228"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264245,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264228\/revisions\/264245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}