Kevin O’Connell on Cashman, Hockenson, Aaron Jones, trade deadline approach

The Vikings' head coach addressed a number of key topics in his Wednesday press conference.

Oct 4, 2024; Watford, United Kingdom; Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell during practice at The Grove. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Which of the Vikings' key injured players have a chance to play on Sunday against the Lions? How is the team viewing the trade deadline after making a move to land Cam Akers this week? Head coach Kevin O'Connell touched on those topics and more in his Wednesday press conference at TCO Performance Center. Let's dive into some of his thoughts.

Blake Cashman's injury

O'Connell confirmed the Star Tribune's report that Cashman is dealing with a case of turf toe. He apparently suffered the injury in the London game. The Strib's reporting is that Cashman isn't expected to play on Sunday and could also miss next Thursday's game against the Rams, but O'Connell stopped short of ruling him out for this week.

"He'll be kind of day-to-day, week-to-week as he deals with that, O'Connell said. "We really don't know yet, but don't think it will be a long-term injury, with IR or anything involved in that. We'll just hopefully have him work through it and get back on the field as soon as possible. Don't really know about his status for this week. We'll see if he can get some limited work in throughout the week and maybe have a chance to go."

The safe assumption is that Cashman will miss at least one game, which would mean Ivan Pace Jr. taking over green dot duties and a full-time role, with Kamu Grugier-Hill also stepping into an expanded role.

"Kamu's been awesome when he's stepped in there," O'Connell said. "IP will obviously be a little bit more of a hub of communication in the short term."

T.J. Hockenson's status

Another player whose status is up in the air is Hockenson, who returned to practice a couple Fridays ago in London but is still ramping up towards being activated from IR as he approaches nine months since his ACL repair surgery. It would be a great story if Hockenson could make his return this week against his former team (and the team he was playing when he got hurt last December), but it's unclear if that will happen.

O'Connell was asked if the Vikings having a game against the Rams four days after the Lions game will factor into Hockenson's timeline. He said no, but I'm not totally sure I believe him.

"I don't think so," O'Connell said. "I think we're just going to let T.J. get some good work in this week and see where he's at. We've got a lot of football left, so we want to make sure he's done everything from a standpoint of what we've asked him to do from his rehab.

"He's in a great spot, he's moving around great, but he's gotta get acclimated back into football a little bit. We ask him to do a lot in our offense, and we want him to feel like he's working his way towards doing that. Because we know there's a lot of football ahead and he's going to be a huge part of it that we have not had with us through these first five games."

Reading between the lines, that quote makes it sound like Hockenson is unlikely to play this week. The Rams game or even the Week 9 Colts game seem like more realistic return dates, but it'll come down to how he progresses in practice.

Trading for Cam Akers (and Aaron Jones' injury)

The Vikings made their first move ahead of the November 5 trade deadline, acquiring RB Cam Akers from the Texans on Tuesday for a conditional late-round pick swap in 2026. It's the exact same trade they made last September to get Akers from the Rams, though the conditional picks never translated in that deal because he tore his Achilles.

O'Connell has been a big fan of Akers dating back to their time together in Los Angeles. This move adds depth to the Vikings' running back room in the form of a player who already knows their offense and can play on all three downs if needed.

"Cam has looked really good, whether it was the early reps in preseason with the Texans or scoring against us when we played," O'Connell said. "Cam's been somebody that we didn't necessarily want to let go to somebody else last offseason, but good football players, that tends to happen. Want to credit Kwesi (Adofo-Mensah) and his guys for getting a deal done to get Cam back here, really as a depth move."

That last bit is important. This is a depth move that doesn't indicate anything regarding the status of starter Aaron Jones, who is dealing with a hip injury but has a chance to play this week depending on how he feels in practice.

"Has no bearing on our current running back situation," O'Connell said. "Aaron is going to progress throughout the week and hopefully has a chance to go on Sunday. Ty Chandler and Myles Gaskin and Cam will work behind (him). I like where Ty's at, obviously Aaron Jones has been a huge impact to our team, so getting to solidify that depth at that position, with an urgency to run the football throughout the rest of the season, we wanted to make sure we could do that now when an opportunity became available."

Trade deadline approach moving forward

There's still almost three full weeks until the deadline, so Akers might not end up being the only addition the Vikings make. We know Adofo-Mensah is not shy about making trades. The Vikings could use a potential upgrade at defensive tackle or a couple other spots, and O'Connell said they'll explore all of their options.

"I think where we're at right now as a team, we're just focused on the guys we have and we're really excited about our roster," he said. "But I'm sure, as we move forward here, Kwesi and his group will be evaluating any and all options that work from a standpoint of continuing to build this team.

"We feel like we've got really good depth, that was one of the reasons why we made the move for Cam, just to continue to solidify an important part of our team for the next 12 games and beyond. If there's an opportunity to do that at another position or an opportunity to add an impact player, you just have to work through all of those as a group and figure out what works best."