5 Detroit Lions who must play well in Week 3 against the Vikings

3. TE T.J Hockenson

Hockenson has been solidly involved in the first two games this season (14 targets, seven in each), it just hasn’t yielded much of anything (seven receptions for 64 yards). He has been credited with two or three drops depending on the source, after just one over 12 games last season.

Something is a little off with Hockenson thus far. But the Vikings have yielded yardage to tight ends in their two games, including Eagles’ tight end Dallas Goedert putting up 82 yards on five catches in Week 2. Looks like a rebound opportunity for the Lions tight end.

As nicely outlined here by Erik Schlitt of Pride of Detroit, noting some work done by The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen, the staple shell coverage of the Vic Fangio-influenced scheme of Vikings’ defensive coordinator Ed Donatell begs to be beaten over the middle and they never moved off it against Philadelphia. That’s the territory of Amon-Ra St. Brown and Hockenson.

It’s far too early to call this a “now or never” game for Hockenson. But it would be nice to see some impact plays from him as he looks to prove he’s worthy of a nice contract.