Thursday evening the Detroit Lions selected Iowa football player TJ Hockenson with the 8th pick of the 2020 NFL Draft. Here’s why.
We knew TJ Hockenson was projected to go anywhere from pick 7 to pick 20, but we didn’t know exactly what time their eye set on the former Iowa football player. Turns out, it was the Detroit Lions led by former Patriots Defensive Coordinator Matt Patricia.
The obvious reason behind this selection is to give star quarterback Matthew Stafford a weapon in the passing game as well as providing even better run blocking support for the Lions 2018 draft pick, Kerryon Johnson.
In Matt Patricia’s initial statement about Hockenson though, neither of those items are specifically made the Lions want to draft Hockenson.
It was his versatility. He loved how difficult Hockenson can make defensive coordinators lives by saying this:
"We’re trying to do everything we can on offense to be multiple, be able to get into different packages, put as much stress on the defense as possible. Right now the game is always moving towards the tight end position. That’s the mismatch that everyone is trying to figure out."
He’s not wrong.
In today’s NFL, if you see 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, and 3 WR), defenses typically counter by running a nickel defense, typically not expecting a run play. With Hockenson, however, defensive coordinators cannot sell out on the pass because he can block like a smaller offensive lineman. He will effectively eliminate one of the linebackers from the play opening holes in the process.
Furthermore, while Hockenson isn’t as great of an athlete as his former Iowa football teammate Noah Fant, he’s sneaky good at creating space and reeling in touch, contested catches so defenses need to be concerned with who they are sending out there at the linebacker position to cover him.
For a Detroit Lions team coming off a 6-10 season, Hockenson will continue to grow the identity and culture that Patricia is trying to nurture.
"Just a tenacious guy, a tough guy, a blue-collar hard worker, and that’s really what we’re all about."
I’m sure he will also make Matthew Stafford a happy camper much as he did with Nate Stanley last year.
If Hockenson can absorb the playbook quickly, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be the number one tight end from day one, and it’s not unreasonable to expect him to be possibly the third best tight end in the NFC behind another former Iowa football player George Kittle and Philadelphia’s Zach Ertz.