Vikings injury report: Encouraging update on Aaron Jones, T.J. Hockenson may go against the Lions

The Minnesota Vikings lost a prime piece of their offense during their Week 5 win over the New York Jets in London, as running back Aaron Jones exited the game with a hip injury in the second quarter.

But while the offense fell flat in his absence in the second half, Minnesota held on for a 23-17 victory, thus remaining the lone undefeated team in the NFC.

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell was confident that Jones' injury wasn't overly severe in his postgame presser and gave a mostly encouraging update on the eighth-year veteran's status during a video conference with reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

"Aaron Jones continues to be evaluated," O’Connell said. "All the early information that we’ve got so far — it looks like we’ve avoided a long-term injury. I’d classify him as really week-to-week at this point. He’ll get treatment throughout this week, and I’ll give you guys an update where he’s at next week as we kinda hopefully work him back in, getting involved in practice and leading into whether we’ll have him versus the Lions."

The Vikings, who are 5-0 for the sixth time in the last 27 seasons, the most of any NFL team during that span, have a bye in Week 6, which will obviously give Jones time to rest up, and will return to action in Week 7 for a high-profile NFC North showdown with the Detroit Lions.

But even if Jones can't go against Detroit, the Vikings should be fine offensively, especially if tight end T.J. Hockenson is back in the mix, which he very well could be.

Ty Chandler isn't Aaron Jones, but he's a solid enough option if Jones misses time

Prior to his exit against the Jets, Jones was having a solid game, rushing for 29 yards on seven carries while adding another 24 on his lone reception, which may have been the play in which he was injured, as he landed a bit awkwardly after having to leap to catch the pass thrown by Nick Mullens, who stepped in for one play after Sam Darnold took a hard hit.

And overall, Jones is having a strong 2024 campaign with 350 yards on the ground, 167 as a receiver, and a pair of touchdowns. So if he does have to miss Minnesota's Week 7 showdown with the Lions, he'll undoubtedly be missed.

If Jones can't go, the Vikings will have to rely on Ty Chandler, who came on strong at the end of last season, averaging 53.4 rushing yards and 16.6 receiving yards over the final seven games of the year. Had Minnesota not signed Jones during the offseason, one would think Chandler would have been the Week 1 starter.

Now in his third season, Chandler had a strong outing in the Vikings' Week 2 win over the San Francisco 49ers, rushing for 82 yards on just 10 carries. Since then, however, he's only accounted for 48 rushing yards on 24 carries and has only three catches for 17 yards. So, he'll certainly have to be better. And that's with or without Jones in the lineup.

Given that Jones' injury doesn't seem to be a long-term issue, it's doubtful that the Vikings will go looking for outside help.

If they do, however, an intriguing option could be Dalvin Cook, who has yet to take a snap with the Dallas Cowboys, as he's been on the practice squad all season. It's not going to happen, but seeing Cook back with the team that drafted him and with whom he made four Pro Bowls in six seasons would be wildly entertaining.

Here's the thing, though. Even if Jones is 100% when the Vikings host the Lions, O'Connell may not want to run the ball all that much anyway. The Detroit defense has allowed just 90.8 rushing yards per game, the fourth-fewest in the NFL, while allowing 258.2 passing yards per game, the sixth-most in the league.

So, regardless of Jones' status, Darnold might be airing it out even more than the season-high 31 times he did against the Jets.

Will T.J. Hockenson be ready to go after the Vikings' bye week?

It's been nine and a half months since tight end T.J. Hockenson suffered ACL and MCL tears in his right knee in the Vikings' Week 16 loss to the Lions last Christmas Eve, but the two-time Pro Bowler could very well be back on the field when Minnesota hosts Detroit on October 20.

Placed on the PUP list ahead of the season, which means he was required to miss at least the first four games of the season, Hockenson saw his practice window open the Friday before the Vikings' matchup with the Jets, giving Minnesota 21 days to elevate him to the active roster.

Hockenson, who had already set career highs with 95 catches for 960 yards before his injury, was said to be well ahead of schedule during training camp. And when O'Connell announced that his tight end was returning to practice, he stated that the 27-year-old "feels great" and that he just needs to get "acclimated back to football." What better time to do that during the season than a bye week?

While there's been no official word on his status, which is normal in an off week, Hockenson will have had two full weeks of practice leading into the Lions' game. However, with the Vikings having a Thursday night game against the Los Angeles Rams to kick off Week 8, O'Connell may end up waiting until then to activate him.

But given the issues mentioned above that the Detroit defense has had against the pass, it might not be a bad idea to get him going against his former team.

Either way, Hockenson will be back in the mix soon, and that's nothing but a good thing for the Vikings and nothing but a bad thing for opposing defenses.