T.J. Hockenson Speaks on Being TRADED By the Detroit Lions!

I want to I want to bring up what TJ hackinson said on bus with the boys all right let's get to that he he talked about getting traded away from Detroit he had some interesting comments uh one I I don't know which order these clips are in but one of them is going to be him discussing how he kind of found out and what was going on at the time because they were one and six when he was traded then they went eight and two which was kind of funny if you think about it uh we know we'll get into that afterwards and then the other thing was whether he's bitter whether or not he's bitter that the Lions just turned into this great team without him and now they're contenders so let's get to the first clip here's TJ Shout Out b with the boys great great shout out Will Compton ter Lewan man they're crushing but here here's the clip the moment where you got traded yeah how was that for you were you bitter at first no I wouldn't say so I mean like I kind of there was a lot of Articles coming out um because we were I think one and six at the time like articles of you being like on the trading block yeah cuz was that your contract year where you coming up to the end of your contract yeah like I was in my fourth year at the time and so like I kind of like understood hey either they're going to want to keep me here or they're going to want to get rid of me and try to get some draft capital and so like I and I was having a really good year at the time with like not you know I I wasn't getting the ball a ton but like being able to create separation and and when I did get the ball I'd make the most of it you know um and and yeah I think the last game I had uh like three targets three catches and like 90 yards or something like that because you know we played Miami and it was like I I could I understood that they were you know they were kind of starting to get to that point and um you know you you have conversations you see like what's going on and you see the Articles coming out you know you just have conversations with the guys like oh like what's going on you know and everyone's like you're not leaving you know you're not going anywhere you know but they don't know because it's really solely up to the GM you know and so at that point um you know I got a call on Tuesday and was like Hey you were getting traded to the Vikings and um appreciate it and have a good one I was like all right cool sounds good were you excited bummed no I was excited I was excited it was a fresh start for me well he is not a Dan Campell guy yeah and uh it's by the way I watched the entire clip we have one more clip but there's things that aren't in the um in in these clips he just he mentioned like oh yeah I was playing well and you know like and I'm not trying to you know take shots as him as a human being because he was pretty mature throughout the entire thing but like I just leaport I think is a is in a different part of his career where he he's a rookie now he's going to a second year he's a lot more like okay I'm still finding my own in this league he's pretty humble you know he's okay with if there's a game where he doesn't get the ball as much like Hawk made like pretty much a point like yeah I wasn't getting the ball as much you know that's where the lions were they were one and six you're not going to pay Hawk I mean they gave them $17 million per year it's absolutely ridiculous like he's over and he's a good really good tight end I'm not even gonna do that either I'm trying to be realistic he's a good tight end really good actually but it just it's crazy how Brad traded him away and then got Sam lorta arguably is better you know as a rook how do you think that feels like T.J Hockinson he saw the guy before him and George KD get drafted better than him the guy that was drafted literally to replace him in Sam leaport out of the same College better than him and now you're stuck in Minnesota with Sam darnold and JJ McCarthy because he wanted to become the highest paid tight end in a league with Travis Kelce and George KD he he got exactly what he deserved he's getting paid but you can see on his face like that man is going through it as far as his body taking a toll on him Kirby Joseph and not saying that Kirby's a dirty player because I think when you're that size you got to go low on players but Kirby messed him up this year with his knee like Haw cooked he's GNA be cooked here pretty soon I I do think though like with with Haw and and I don't know if people like first of all I made it pretty clear for a while like Sam Lor is the second second or third best tight end in the NFL like it's it's George K Travis Kelce and and and uh Sam leapor that's the tier one in my opinion um and I think T.J hackinson is like right below that like I think T.J Hawkinson is a really good tight end and I think I like I don't hate him for what he said um and and this is the thing with with with Stafford like when I look at a situation like that like you were he was he he's been in a different regime now with Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell his second regime um he it wasn't good with Matt Patricia and then you go 3113 and one you're trying to figure something now and I know the culture is changing and you could feel that and then you go you start one and six and your contract's coming up and you know that there's conversations of being of of being traded so like a guy in Hawk's position and any human any of us if we in that position we would have been like probably the same thing like man like obviously they don't want me here and and and they don't want to pay me so like you know and we're one and six right now we went we won three games last year in a two-year span he's won four games in Detroit so he's sitting there like these guys are acting like they don't want me I've put he's putting numbers up he's a good tight end in the NFL and that's kind of the way it was but like I I think that's part of the business of the NFL and Brad Holmes knows that and that was why he traded him so like I don't have any ill will towards TJ hackinson at all like I I don't like outside of the money how much he got paid and we were going to have to pay him that would have been like if we paid him I would not have liked him because we would have paid him 17 million so that like I'm kind of happier that we traded him and I have no ill will towards him no one no one should like he's a really he's a top five tight end in the NFL I don't think anyone can disagree with that so like that is what it is we ended up getting the better tight end out of it anyways and it ended up working out now going forward like that like I did watch the beginning of this interview and and they were talking about the injury and they never even mentioned once like a bad hit or anything with Kirby so all the Vikings fans and everyone that uh kind of went through all of that saying it was a bad hit like I don't think they mention it because NFL players sometimes know like that does happen so it is tough like he's coming that injury and they did bring up a point on it like the injury was in like week 16 or week 15 or whatever so like it's G to be tough for him to get back for the season like that's the only tough part about it but I don't I don't know if you guys took like ill will out of that but I really personally I didn't I didn't I I did it's nothing that he said on the interview or what he's done in Minnesota but I did like find it just be just bewildering that he wanted to be paid the highest tight end in football where you're on the Detroit Lines and you aren't even the highest or the best tight end in football like at that time he wasn't even the top he's a better tight end in Minnesota than he is in Detroit like I think he's levels better in Minnesota for sure I just think like when you're in that position it's just you're asking to like typically guys at top five of their position are always going to ask to reset the market like that's just how it works like and you might not always that guy like he wasn't even top five in my opinion the the the trajectory though you're probably like hey this guy he's going to be pretty he's going to be pretty good so like I your agent should be doing his job like if your agent in it isn't like a T.J Hawkinson agent wasn't asking for that then I would question his agent because like he should be so I that's why you I'd rather trade him I think it worked out for both sides I mean he got paid lions were in a different part of their the rebuild so I I think it made the most sense like it's not even anything personal with TJ I just think you know this team was was getting younger they they didn't want to give a bunch of money to a tight end they had guys they had to pay and he was probably one of the last guys that you look at and you're like okay he's a part of the future like he was just he was in his fourth year at the time like you know fifth year option he wants to get paid and you look at it right now like Sam leor what he gave you this year like 800 plus yards productive right away as a rookie tight end which is unbelievable and you use that pick you got from TJ Hockinson do draft him he is his cap hit this year guys going into 2024 2025 is $2.1 million so let's just say 2 million T.J Hockinson cap hit this year 14 million so 2 million 14 million he's getting paid seven times less seven times less what TJ hodkinson's getting paid um and you're getting look at the value you're getting out of Sam La Porto I mean it's unbelievable and it takes Balls by the way real quick to trade a player in your division that takes balls especially that type of player top five and he even said it in the uh in the interview like he was I was shocked he would be in the division but hey it worked out for both sides I want to play this real quick his thoughts on uh the Lions afterwards eight and two and and their contenders and kind of what he had to say so let's hear let's hear the let's hear the clip here the Lions and they haven't won a division in like the last 30 years until this past year and then you leave and now they're having that crazy success is there a part of you that's kind of like bitter towards that success um I mean you know obviously they're still in division so you like want to beat them and you want to but I mean yeah not not not crazy but like I mean you you see it and you're like like what's going on you know you talk to people and they're just like you know like that I played with and they're just like it just started clicking like it was nothing got rid of you and everything just came into place yeah [ __ ] well I mean you think about in there the first like I I was only there for six games when um coach Ben got moved up to O like head so like it was a learning curve for everybody like it it's not that's one of those places too like the terminology is a lot different like Ben makes it complicated so it's easy you know like if that makes sense like you know each way is a different term like so if you're on the right side be it'd be like I I don't know they'd be one term and if you're on the if you're going to the left same play it' be a different term so like you can still do all that at the line M but it was a learning curve for a lot of guys cuz that's not what you do you know and they'd be code names so be like lobster and and whatever you know and um so that was a learning curve for everybody and so everybody was trying to figure it out and get used to it and there was a lot of hiccups throughout that first seven games um and then we all started kind of getting it after like week five and starting to kind of figure it out and then you know now they they've gotten it to click and Ben's I mean there's no doubt in my mind that Ben's like a huge part of that yeah that's got the Playbook that's Lobster Lobster Lobster and he uh compliments he complimented Ben at the end there and said Ben's a big part of of what what's going on in Detroit and I I I don't know this isn't like confirmed or anything but it at least in my opinion I think treading away TJ kind of took like a um it it's not that they because he's a good player but it's like you get that pressure off of you of having to like you have to feed him like the offense is more like you know Brock Wright Shane zra you know guys that kind of stepped up into that tight end role that were they were kind of sharing it and Brock had a big play against the Jets that which they ended up winning the game like it just I think it was hard it it was just I don't know how to describe it but the team like he said they just kind of clicked when he left like I don't think they I'm not gonna go as far to say like they're better you know TJ was the one holding him back but um I can see what he's saying I can see his first year as OC with Ben johon I think it definitely allowed players especially like Amon Ross St Brown to find their identities because a lot like to your point they're trying to run the offense through TJ because he's your best player but that's not really the way the offense is supposed to be ran so I think TJ even I think he found his identity truly when he went into Minnesota and he found a scheme that fit him better and same thing with the Lions offense they were able to find their identity and to your point it wasn't TJ holding them back but TJ now leaving and giving other players ways to just specifically run Ben Johnson's scheme just do the X's and O's part of it instead of doing the TJ hackinson part of it I think that really opened up things for the offense and Jared G too to understand the Playbook yeah I I do think there's a part of it like like TJ said to where it did take some time and once you get a certain amount of games in then you start figuring it out and then maybe that the TJ kind of departure open up like you guys said a door for some other guys to be able to kind of step in and uh the pressure gets taken off um and then and then they start kind of finding that success I'm I'm happy to hear that he wasn't like bitter or anything like it was just like it's good for them like you know like you are in a div it's a weird situation because he is in the division so like it makes it a little like I'm sure if he went to an AFC team maybe that conversation that question would have been answered a little different where he' be like I'm I'm happy for those guys um you know it sounds like he still has relationship with some of those guys but like the offense I couldn't imagine being one and six getting traded and then them do like the Detro lons going eight and two and then the next year doing what they do and going winning the division or you know kind of that step like that would be for him excuse me he was kind of like he was pretty big time in Detroit for a while and I'm sure he he thought it was his first home in the NFL so it's probably a little bit of sweet where he's like man like I'm sure he would have loved to win a division here in Detroit so as much as he probably didn't admit it because he's on the Vikings now I'm sure in the back of his head he's like wish I would have been able to do that I feel like that'd be like what it would I would imagine that's what it feels like to have like your ex-girlfriend date your friend and then you like I'm happy for them like they're they're successful they're doing their own thing but it's just like what the hell how am I supposed to interact here like I just [ __ ] awkward yeah you got to play him twice a year that former team I mean and then they're gonna it's weird because when he got traded to Minnesota he said they were six and one at the time and now they're in a rebuild like isn't that wild like altered like Vikings were here lions were here and now it's like I kind of feel bad a little bit for him but I don't because we're we're we're out here divisions now he's getting paid yeah yeah M he got it I'm happy that he's getting paid the winning imagine like you get to Minnesota they're going to the playoffs and then Here Comes Daniel Jones and saquin Barkley and that was your one chance at a playoff win yeah that is that is wild to think about I mean he wasn't he wasn't he wasn't Brad Holmes guy you know Bob Quinn drafted him so are you guys like are you guys you guys don't like DJ Hawkins I get a Feeling some people just don't like him I'm I'm I'm a TJ like I like TJ when he was here I'm a TJ fan obvious in Minnesota thought he was very talented but never able to show it I think the best game we saw at T.J Hockinson was literally his first game in the NFL against Arizona and he had before he got traded you feel like that was a situational type thing though like the situation he's in with patri obviously Situation's going to affect everybody but tight end is a situ is a position where like even like if you're bad team like you I still think you can succeed as a tight end because you're just it's so much easier to get you the ball to compar to a wide receiver on the outside especially if you have a good running game like play action and stuff like that like TJ especially because of the hype coming out of him as a blocker I I I said it once but I don't think he really found his identity as a player in Detroit I think Sam La pora by week four found his identity in the NFL and know what he's good at what he's not how many top five tight ends in the NFL though are on bad teams zero of them they're all on I mean George KD had was a top five in the NFL he had Nick Mullen throwing him the ball I guess so yeah but like to me like Sam leapor like Again Sam leapor is tier one to me but he came into like a situation where they just finished eight and two Ben Johnson Aman rth St Brown Jared G he came into I I've said this last two years for guys get drafted to Detroit every player and I'm really big at players getting drafted in positions that are like good teams any player that's been drafted to Detroit the last two years I'm I'm a very big proponent of like like the Kirby's and them they there's a part of them their success coming into the situation of the Detroit Lines of the culture that's been built