Griffin Wong details his top T.J. Hockenson prop bets for Vikings at Chargers on Thursday Night Football.
The Minnesota Vikings enter tonight’s Thursday Night Football against the Los Angeles Chargers as a team in flux. Minnesota is just 3-3 and sits dead last in the NFC North a season after nearly earning the conference’s lone bye, and starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy got injured two weeks into the season and has yet to return. Los Angeles has also struggled lately, though, which could give the Vikings a chance to pick up a much-needed win.
Veteran tight end T.J. Hockenson hasn’t been immune from the struggles. The seven-year veteran caught 41 passes for 455 yards in just 10 games last season after returning from a torn ACL, posting the second-highest yards-per-reception total of his career. It stands in stark contrast from his production in 2025: he’s recorded fewer than 200 receiving yards in six games.
Minnesota is a three-point underdog for tonight’s clash at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the point total set to 44.5. The game will start at 8:15 p.m. ET at SoFi Stadium. Below, I’ve detailed my favorite prop bets centered around Hockenson.
Best T.J. Hockenson Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
T.J. Hockenson O35.5 Receiving Yards (-110)
There are a lot of factors working against Hockenson here: Los Angeles has allowed the seventh-fewest receiving yards to opposing tight ends, and Minnesota might operate a pretty run-heavy scheme against a Chargers defense that has allowed a combined 522 yards and seven scores on 82 touches to the opposing team’s RB1 over the last four weeks, especially since it will welcome Aaron Jones back into the fold after a four-week absence with a hamstring injury.
36 receiving yards is a really low bar, though, and it’s one that Hockenson has reached in each of the four games quarterbacked by Carson Wentz. After McCarthy targeted him a total of seven times across his two games, Wentz has thrown it his way at least five times in each of his four starts. In part, that’s a question of each quarterback’s strengths: 20 of Hockenson’s 33 targets have come in between the numbers, and Wentz targets those zones more. 61 of his 133 throws (45.9%) have come in between the numbers, while only 10 of McCarthy’s 38 (26.3%) have. If those patterns hold — they should, given that in 2021, his last full season as a starter, Wentz threw 51.6% of his passes up the middle of the field — Hockenson should retain decent production with Wentz under center.
T.J. Hockenson 5+ Receptions (+147)
These also feel like pretty friendly odds, given that he’s done so in three of his four games with Wentz at quarterback. While Los Angeles has allowed the joint-fourth fewest receptions to tight ends, it did allow five or more catches to Brock Bowers, so it’s definitely doable. Plus, while the Chargers have had the sixth-highest coverage grades at Pro Football Focus overall, only one of its top four coverage defenders might realistically guard Hockenson: safety Derwin James Jr., and James often lines up in the box instead of playing a traditional roving safety role.
If anything, Donte Jackson, Benjamin St-Juste and Tahreeb Still’s lockdown coverage abilities might make it less appealing for Wentz to throw to Justin Jefferson or Jordan Addison, and he’ll target Hockenson instead. Los Angeles also tends to induce hurries at an above-average rate, which could incentivize Wentz to dump it off to his receiver with by far the shortest average depth of target among the four Vikings with at least 25 targets. Lastly, if the Chargers’ pass-heavy offense is clicking, they could put up a lot of points, forcing Wentz to take to the air in response.
