As the Detroit Lions inch closer and closer to the 2025 NFL Draft, plenty of NFL analysts and experts are talking about which players the team might bring to the Motor City, but it’s not just about the draft. There are also players the Lions are holding onto who could become tradeable assets.
The 2025 NFL Draft starts Thursday, April 24, and is scheduled to take place inside and around Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Detroit Lions May Part With No. 2 QB
One guy who the Lions have put a lot of stock into when it comes to development is No. 2 backup quarterback Hendon Hooker. While Hooker is a solid quarterback, there has really been no indication that the Lions plan to keep him for years to come. Plus, he could be valuable as a trade asset, so it’s not that his performance has been bad, it’s that his worth could be used in a trade.
Think about it. Heading into the playoffs last season, the Lions signed Teddy Bridgewater out of retirement to be the team’s No. 2 backup quarterback for Jared Goff, leaving Hooker in the emergency quarterback role. Then, during the offseason, the Lions signed quarterback Kyle Allen.
In March, ESPN’s Ben Solak said that he thought Detroit’s move to sign Allen meant Detroit was looking to move on from Hooker.
“The Lions are making it clear they do not trust Hendon Hooker,” Solak stated in a March 26 piece. “They replaced him at QB2 with Teddy Bridgewater last season once Bridgewater was done coaching his way to a high school championship, and Hooker will now battle with Allen for the same job. At this point, I’d be surprised if the 2023 third-round pick becomes a reliable backup anywhere. The Lions probably need a new developmental QB of the future.”
A ‘Solid Tradeable Asset’ for the Lions
Brad Berreman of SideLion Report agrees. In an April 17 feature about Lions players who could be traded during the draft, Berreman names Hooker the No. 1 most likely guy to get traded.
“The harsh and often repeated reality with Hooker is this,” Berreman noted. “He’s 27 years old, he’s halfway through his rookie contract and he has no path to starting in Detroit with Jared Goff under contract through 2028. He’d be a solid tradeable asset, if the Lions hadn’t spent the aforementioned months crushing his value.”
Berreman named defensive end Josh Paschal as the No. 2 most likely Lion to get traded during the draft, but he says Hooker is certainly the most likely to go.
“Hooker stands above everyone else on this list by some margin,” Berreman stated. “The Lions should be open to moving on from a questionable third-round draft pick that is trending toward being confirmed as a mistake, assuming they have a plan to replace him as their developmental quarterback.”
In an April 15 segment on the Detroit Sports Podcast, John Maakaron and Christian Booher from Sports Illustrated talked about the possibility of the Lions parting with Hooker and named the New Orleans Saints as a possible landing spot for him.
So, plenty of people are predicting that Hooker may end up with another team this season. He’s been a loyal Lion since joining the squad in 2023, but sometimes, it’s just time for a change of scenery.
