Fantasy Football: 5 tight ends to add off waivers to replace T.J. Hockenson

The Minnesota Vikings suffered a significant loss to their offense in Week 16 as tight end T.J. Hockenson suffered a torn ACL and MCL, according to head coach Kevin O'Connell. The former Detroit Lions tight end has been one of the best tight ends this season and will end the season with 95 receptions on 127 targets for 960 yards and five touchdowns.

The Vikings are now going to have to figure out how to replace Hockenson in their offense but fantasy football managers who had the Vikings tight end will have to do the same. He has been basically a plug-and-play tight end every week this season.

Looking ahead to Week 17, these are five tight ends who could be players to target on waiver wires that could be good replacements for T.J. Hockenson for what is Championship Week for most leagues.

*All fantasy points allowed stats are courtesy of FantasyPros unless otherwise noted.

Tyler Conklin (New York Jets)

It is tough at this point to trust any New York Jets players, especially in a championship week, but Tyler Conklin has been pretty consistent as of late. In the past four games, Conklin has had at least six targets each week and has four receptions in each of the past three games.

The Jets are playing the Browns on Thursday night in the first game of Week 17 and while the Browns defense is good at a lot of things, defending tight ends is not one of them. Last week against the Texans, Dalton Schultz led the Texans in receptions and receiving yards with eight receptions and 61 receiving yards.

Before that game, the Browns gave up one receiving touchdown to Cole Kmet and two receiving touchdowns to Evan Engram back in Week 14. This would be an option for anyone in deeper leagues where there may not be many options on the waiver wire.

Chigoziem Okonkwo (Tennessee Titans)

Chigoziem Okonkwo has been one of the better tight ends over the past month and has seen a bigger role in the Titans' offense. In three of the past four games, he has had at least six targets with 60+ receiving yards in two of those games. This past week against the Seahawks was his best game of the season with six receptions for 63 yards and his first touchdown of the year.

The Titans this week play the Houston Texans in an AFC South division matchup and the Texans have been one of the worst this season against tight ends allowing over 11 fantasy points per game.

Gerald Everett (Los Angeles Chargers)

Ever since the Chargers had to turn to Easton Stick in place of the injured Justin Herbert, tight end Gerald Everett has been a bigger part of the offense. He has now had three straight weeks with eight targets each game and at least five receptions in all three games.

Everett hasn't found the end zone yet during that stretch but with this workload it seems like only a matter of time. That time could be this week against the Denver Broncos who are allowing the most fantasy points to tight ends this season with over 13.6 points per game.

Tucker Kraft (Green Bay Packers)

Tucker Kraft replaced fellow rookie Luke Musgrave and had some pretty good weeks recently in an improved Packers offense. He has had six targets in three of the past four games, had four receptions in each of the past three games while surpassing 55 receiving yards each game. Kraft also caught a touchdown in Week 15 against the Bucs.

The Packers this week are playing the Minnesota Vikings who have been middle-of-the-road in terms of defending tight ends this season. They are allowing around 8.6 points per game so while the matchup isn't great, Tucker Kraft has been a part of this offense and it wouldn't be surprising to see him sneak into the Top 12 this week.

Hunter Henry (New England Patriots)

The final tight end has been one of the best at his position recently in Hunter Henry. The Patriots tight end has had 10 receptions, 106 receiving yards and three touchdowns in the past two games he played in Week 14 and Week 15.

However, Henry missed this past week against the Broncos due to a knee injury. It remains to be seen if he will be available this week but he seemed close based on the fact that he was listed as questionable for the game against Denver.

The Bills defense is similar to the Vikings in terms of fantasy points allowed at 8.4 fantasy points and if I knew Henry would be playing this week, he would be my pick over Tucker Kraft but it would be a gamble if he is the only tight end fantasy football managers added off the waiver wire.

More fantasy football content from Fantasy CPR