NFL Rumors: Ezekiel Elliott debut, Vikings scary absence, Cowboys trade looming?

NFL Rumors: Vikings TE T.J. Hockenson missing camp for strange, scary reason

The Minnesota Vikings made an aggressive upgrade to the offense last season, trading within the NFC North to land tight end T.J. Hockenson. That turned out to be a brilliant move for that side of the ball as the former Lions first-round pick was the second-most productive player in the position once he arrived in the Twin Cities, trailing only the ineffable Travis Kelce.

But Hockenson has not played much if at all in Vikings training camp as he enters the fifth year of his rookie contract. Some might’ve assumed that the tight end has been sitting out as he hopes to get a contract extension — something Minnesota has been adamant they want to work out. That, however, is not actually why he’s been missing training camp.

As reported by ESPN’s Kevin Seifert on Monday, Hockenson has been dealing with a nasty ear infection for several weeks now. That might not seem like much, but the illness has apparently been affecting the Vikings tight end’s equillibrium, which is obviously a crucial factor for his play on a football field given the balance and coordination required to succeed.

Seifert also noted that both Hockenson and Viking head coach Kevin O’Connell made sure to emphasize that this was the reason for his absence, not the contract talks.

The good news is that Hockenson told the media that the ear infection “is starting to get cleared up” and has started doing light work and early portions of practice lately, including a full walk-through recently.

All told, it doesn’t appear that there is any long-term cause for concern. But given that the illness has been throwing off his equillibrium and how scary that sounds for an NFL player to try and deal with on the field, let’s hope he and Minnesota take it slow to get fully back on the field, even with Week 1 looming.