Hendon

Hooker

Campbell also said that safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and fullback Jason Cabinda, both on injured reserve, will have their practice windows opened. Hooker suffered a torn ACL in his final season at Tennessee and has been working his way back ever since. He will now serve as the Lions’ QB3 behind Teddy Bridgewater. With Bridgewater set to retire at the end of the year, Hooker will be looking to earn the backup job for 2024 in the remaining month of practices.

The Lions have 21 days to officially activate Hooker. The rookie suffered a torn ACL in his final season at Tennessee before declaring for the draft. Detroit added him as a project in the third round. With Jared Goff playing well again this year and the Lions being safe bets to make the playoffs, we won’t see any starts from Hooker in 2023. He will work toward a backup gig as he gets up to speed over the next few weeks. For now, Teddy Bridgewater will continue to serve as Goff’s understudy.

Hooker suffered a torn ACL late in his final season at Tennessee and was eventually drafted by the Lions in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft. The rookie quarterback hasn’t done much in the way of football activity as he’s continued to recover from his injury, but designating him for return would give the Lions at least three weeks to look at him on the field. Once designated for return, the Lions would have three weeks to either activate him or rule him out for the season, but with Teddy Bridgewater currently serving as the backup to Jared Goff, it’s unlikely we see Hooker in 2023.

Longtime Lions beat writer Dave Birkett reports Hooker is expected to spend all of training camp on the active/NFI list. That will presumably give way to the reserve/NFI list, which would cost Hooker at least the first four games of the season. We wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up spending the entire year there behind Jared Goff and Nate Sudfeld. Hooker’s selection was for 2024 and beyond.

Hooker is still recovering from the torn ACL/meniscus he suffered late last season at Tennessee. Although he can technically be activated at any time, Hooker is a strong candidate for reserve/NFI, which would cost him at least the first four games of the year. Despite some serious overall upside, Hooker is extremely unlikely to make any re-draft noise before 2024, at which point he will already be 26 years old.

Hooker isn’t expected to contribute right away in his rookie season. In fact, there’s a good chance he remains sidelined until 2024 as he continues to recover from last year’s torn ACL. Still, the rookie third-round pick reportedly resumed throwing last month and feels good heading into training camp. How active Hooker will be in training camp is to be determined. He’ll be roughly seven months removed from surgery and is likely to focus more on rehab than any serious on-field workouts. It goes without saying that Hooker is completely off the redraft radar, but remains a worthwhile stash in dynasty leagues.

The Lions expect a redshirt year for Hooker, who is six months removed from undergoing knee surgery. Stashing Hooker on NFI opens a roster spot for Detroit while giving Hooker a chance to return later in the year. Nate Sudfeld is the favorite to back up Jared Goff in Week 1.

Campbell also said “it’s going to be a long time” before the team knows if Hooker will be a potential successor to Jared Goff. “I like the fact that he was older ... I think you want your quarterback to be more mature,” Campbell added. Hooker will likely be at least 26 years old before he throws an NFL pass if Campbell’s claim of a redshirt year is to be believed.

This dialogue has apparently been internal. The Lions, meanwhile, took Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker with the 68th pick of the 2023 NFL draft. Goff, signed through the 2024 season, told reporters in April that he had not held discussions with Lions brass about an extension. Entering his age-29 season, it’s possible the Lions would make a short-term commitment to Goff after his solid 2022 campaign, in which he posted the league’s fifth best EPA per drop back. He’ll count as a $31 million cap hit in 2023. Look for the team to get an extension done before the season starts.

After a nondescript three years for a fading Virginia Tech program, Hooker (6’3/217) transferred to Knoxville in 2021 and immediately went supernova under Josh Heupel, thriving in a system that schemes big plays wide open. A staggering 53.6 percent of Hooker’s 2022 dropbacks came on play-action, while RPOs were also a staple of Heupel’s advanced spread attack. That made it easy for Hooker to play pitch-and-catch with the likes of Jalin Hyatt, though 69.6 completion percentages and 9.5 YPAs still don’t grow on trees. Nevertheless, Hooker was less impressive outside of structure, where both his accuracy and decision-making severely waned. Even within structure, Hooker’s ball placement was not always the best. When you throw in his late season ACL tear and highly-advanced age for a rookie (25), Hooker arrives in the big leagues with serious question marks. He hopes to answer them with his textbook size, dual-threat athleticism, rhythm passing and strong base mechanics. In Detroit, Hooker will get the chance to rehab and acclimate to an NFL offense as a rookie. He may not take a live snap in 2023, but the runway is there for him to be the team’s start next year.