After suffering a serious knee injury at the end of last season, Minnesota Vikings Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson began the team's training camp this summer on the physically unable to perform list. Unfortunately, another Vikings tight end could potentially be joining Hockenson on the sideline after Wednesday's practice.
Midway through Minnesota's training camp practice on Wednesday, tight end Robert Tonyan had to be carted off of the field after going down with an injury, according to The Athletic's Alec Lewis.
There is no indication yet about what type of injury Tonyan suffered, but KARE 11's Julia Daniels shared that the tight end was "laying on his back for a while" before he left the field on a cart.
Losing Robert Tonyan to a serious injury would be a big blow to the Minnesota Vikings TE room
With Hockenson not expected to play until at least a month after the 2024 regular season begins, Tonyan was likely going to be among those to help the Vikings make up for the absence of their top tight end.
But if Tonyan's injury is as serious as it seemed on Wednesday, then Minnesota is going to enter the 2024 season with a pretty underwhelming tight end room.
Josh Oliver is a solid tight end, but he's at his best as a blocker out on the field. Johnny Mundt is decent, but there's a reason why Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell labeled him the best No. 3 tight end in the NFL last year.
Minnesota could add another tight end in free agency if Tonyan has to miss a significant amount of time, or the team could just wait it out and just utilize other weapons in its offense until Hockenson is able to return.
Hopefully, Tonyan's injury looked a lot worse than it actually turns out to be. However, him having to be carted off the field certainly doesn't leave much room for optimism.
Update: Good news, Tonyan had to be carted off the field on Wednesday due to back spasms, according to the Star Tribune's Ben Goessling. Thankfully, it seems like Tonyan probably won't have to miss much time.