Looking at the current state of the Minnesota Vikings' 2026 salary cap situation is alarming. But they can get right, as they have to, of course, without an abundance of pain in terms of key players who will end up as cap casualties.
That being said, there will be some tough decisions, and there will be some recognizable names who will not be wearing purple next season.
Perhaps the most prominent among those names is tight end T.J. Hockenson. While it was hardly his fault this season, his production decline since his major knee injury late in the 2023 season has been noticeable, and a cap hit just shy of $21.3 million for 2026 (second-highest among tight ends right now) is not palatable for that diminishing return.
So Hockenson's departure feels inevitable. Any pre-June 1 move would leave behind more dead money than the cap savings it creates, but there should be some options on the trade front for the Vikings to recoup some kind of value.
The question, then, of course, would become how Minnesota replaces Hockenson as their No.1 tight end. In the big picture, with the contract they gave No. 2 tight end Josh Oliver, the lower the cost, the better. For as much as Oliver is valued, and as good as he is in his role, he is not a TE1 in what anyone would hope to be a top-tier offense.
Minnesota Vikings may have a remarkably cost-effective option to replace T.J. Hockenson
PFF's Ben Cooper recently highlighted the site's 10 highest-graded undrafted rookies from the 2025 regular season.
At No. 8 on the list, with a 63.5 overall PFF grade, is Vikings tight end Ben Yurosek.
"The rookie tight end class featured several top-end pass catchers but also a handful of blocking studs. Although Yurosek went undrafted, he took on a blocking role in Minnesota’s offense from day one. Nearly 80% of his snaps were as a blocker, and he delivered his best performance in the Vikings’ final game.
On a career-high 26 snaps in Week 18 against the Packers, Yurosek garnered an elite 90.4 PFF overall grade, powered by an 81.9 PFF run (blocking) grade. It was a taste of what the Vikings could get out of Yurosek in an expanded blocking role next season, although Josh Oliver is locked in as the team’s primary blocking tight end."
Over 12 games, Yurosek played 116 offensive snaps this season. 40 of those came over the final two games, when Hockenson was out. Among all tight ends, removing the qualifying snap minimum, the rookie's PFF pass blocking grade (79.6) was sixth-best.
Yurosek did not light up the stat sheet late in his college career, with 31 receptions over 20 games for Stanford and Georgia in 2023 and 2024. But he topped 40 catches in both 2021 and 2022 while playing for the Cardinal, and he was top-10 in the Pac-12 in receiving yards (658) and yards per catch (15.3) in the first of those two campaigns.
Vikings' general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has been adept at finding undrafted players who become key contributors. Seemingly with some untapped potential as a pass catcher, Yurosek may be next in that line if he gets a legit chance to climb the tight end depth chart. If Hockenson is gone, there would be no more cost-effective way to find/unveil a new TE1.