Vikings Rumors and Buzz: Jonathan Taylor, Trey Lance, T.J. Hockenson
This time of year in the NFL — late August, with the start of the regular season approaching — is always rife with rumors and buzz. Let's go over the latest reports surrounding the Vikings and some big-name players.
Jonathan Taylor
The Colts have granted Taylor's request to seek a trade. The relationship between player and team seems very fractured. This is a 24-year-old who led the NFL in rushing in 2021 and is one of the league's very best running backs when healthy.
According to 5 Eyewitness News' Darren Wolfson on SKOR North's Mackey & Judd, Taylor's representation would love to see the Vikings get involved with the Colts in trade talks.
"The Taylor camp would love to involve the Vikings," Wolfson said. "'Great situation there, Alexander Mattison, is he ready to be the No. 1? My client, our guy, he can have success in that offense with Justin Jefferson, with those two elite tackles.'
"But bottom line: I do not see a scenario where Jonathan Taylor ends up in Minnesota," Wolfson added.
It makes sense from Taylor's perspective to be interested in the Vikings as a potential suitor. From the Vikings' standpoint, there's virtually zero chance of such a move.
Trey Lance
Lance-to-the-Vikings speculation is back once again. The 49ers named Sam Darnold as the No. 2 quarterback and are reportedly exploring their options with the third overall pick from 2021, who has started just four games in two seasons due to injuries and other circumstances.
Although Kyle Shanahan has said the Niners would love to keep Lance, it makes sense for them to explore a trade that would take his contract off their books. And naturally, the Vikings have come up in rumors as a possible trade partner. Lance is from Minnesota and the Vikings have an uncertain future at QB with Kirk Cousins set to hit free agency next year.
Vegas odds have Minnesota as the most likely team to land Lance. According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the two teams had "serious conversations" about Lance this spring before "talks fell apart."
There's a lot that goes into that idea from the Vikings' perspective. Do they believe Lance has the potential to emerge as a starting option with more reps under his belt? Can he get there with those reps coming in a practice setting? Would he even be an upgrade from rookie Jaren Hall?
Lance has impressive physical tools, but he just hasn't played a whole lot of football games over the past few years, and he was unable to beat out Darnold or Brock Purdy in Shanahan's QB-friendly system.
For what it's worth, a team acquiring Lance in a trade would only take on his $940,000 base salary in 2023 and roughly $5.3 million in 2024.
T.J. Hockenson
The Hockenson situation is an interesting one. The Vikings' Pro Bowl tight end is in line for an extension as he heads into the final year of his rookie contract, but no deal has been reached with a little over two weeks before Week 1.
Hockenson hasn't practiced in a couple weeks. At first, he was dealing with an ear infection that he said was messing with his equilibrium. Now he's gotten over that issue but is experiencing lower-back stiffness, according to Kevin O'Connell.
The context looming over both of those ailments is Hockenson's contract status.
"The Vikings and tight end T.J. Hockenson have been working on an extension, but both sides are far apart, per league sources," Russini tweeted. "Hockenson wants to reset the market with a historic contract extension for tight ends."
Hockenson, 26, made a massive impact for the Vikings after being acquired from the Lions in a midseason trade last year. He's set to again be a huge part of O'Connell's offense this year. Unsurprisingly, his camp would like a big-time extension to be signed before the year begins.
Darren Waller currently paces the tight end position with a $17 million AAV. If Hockenson wants to exceed that, it doesn't seem like the Vikings are willing to go there. The two sides appear to be a ways apart in negotiations.
The Vikings have some leverage here. They could have Hockenson play out this season and then use the franchise tag — which was $11.4 million for tight ends this year — on him next offseason.
Things can change, but it's looking more and more like no extension will be worked out prior to the start of this season. The assumption is that Hockenson will be good to go for Week 1 regardless, but who knows?
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