ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- No. 88 was absent from the Detroit Lions practice facility on Thursday. Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson's 2021 season is over.
Hockenson underwent thumb surgery Thursday morning with renowned hand specialist Dr. Thomas Graham and is expected to make a complete recovery in time for the offseason program, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.
"We'll miss him," coach Dan Campbell said Friday. "Everything went well, though. ... He got it fixed."
Campbell described Hockenson's injury as "kind of in between" a bone bruise and a tear.
He suffered the injury during Detroit's lone victory this season, over the Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 5, in which he caught four passes for 49 yards with a touchdown. After the injury, he went through limited practice for one day before being ruled out for the rest of the week, including last Sunday's road loss to the Denver Broncos.
He leads the Lions with 61 receptions, 583 yards and four touchdown catches this season as quarterback Jared Goff's most reliable receiving option.
The 24-year-old entered his third season with high expectations of fulfilling a bigger role in Detroit, both on and off the field.
Following his breakout second-year season, when he produced 723 yards and six touchdowns on 67 catches and was selected to his first Pro Bowl, Hockenson has experienced both highs and lows for a team that is currently 1-11-1 under first-year coach Dan Campbell.
Even without Hockenson or running back D'Andre Swift, who hasn't played yet this month because of a shoulder injury, Goff insists that players haven't given up on the year, though the Lions remain one of two teams to be underdogs in every game this season. Detroit also has the best odds of receiving the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft.
"Pride and both the name on your back and the name on the front," Goff said of what the Lions are playing for at this point of the season. "You're playing for both and who you are as a person and what your character is. At the same time -- Dan [Campbell] kind of talked about this a couple weeks ago -- but being spoiler sometimes is fun. You don't hope you have to be that way, but that's kind of the role we're in now."
Following Thursday's practice, Lions rookie receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said he was unaware of Hockenson's season-ending surgery.
"I didn't know that until you just told me," St. Brown said.
St. Brown is the Lions' second-leading receiver with 57 catches for 511 receiving yards and a touchdown. In Weeks 13-14, he became the first Lions rookie to ever record at least seven receptions in back-to-back games and will now have to try to continue that production without Hockenson.
"That's horrible to hear. T.J. was a great player for us, he's going to be a great player for us moving forward," St. Brown said.
"Losing a guy like that just means we've got to step up with other players. Whether that's the tight ends, receivers, running backs, we've all got to step up and make plays. That's all that means."