The Detroit Lions knew what they were getting into when they took quarterback Hendon Hooker 68th overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. He was coming off a torn ACL late in his final college season at Tennessee, and he was already 25 years old due to playing six years of college football in the COVID-19 era.
Working his way back from his knee injury meant Hooker's rookie year would be a redshirt year, and he was able to practice late that season. Heading into his second season, having worked in a simple college offense meant he had work to do in multiple areas as the perceived favorite to be Jared Goff's backup.
Hooker won that job essentially by default last year, as Nate Sudfeld ultimately provided the expected level of competition. Action in three blowout wins last season brought limited pass attempts, then the Lions brought Teddy Bridgewater back into the fold last December.
After that, Bridgewater was elevated over Hooker to be the No. 2 quarterback for the playoff game against the Washington Commanders.
Slowly but surely, the Lions have told the world where they are with Hooker. Right or wrong, he is not trusted to step in if something happens to Goff.
An extra preseason game this year is a nice opportunity for Hooker to get the kind of reps he needs. But Kyle Allen started the Hall of Fame Game against the Los Angeles Chargers, while Hooker played the second half and had just six pass attempts.
Lions rightly called out (again) for how they're handling Hendon Hooker
Back in early March, Tom Mazawey of Woodward Sports called the Lions out about their handling of Hooker.
"Don't you think they damaged him a little by what they did in the playoffs," Mazawey said. "I mean, they damaged him. Because teams know. And if you're making this kid your benchwarmer, your emergency quarterback in a playoff game, and your quarterback goes down with a concussion -- because Goff was concussed. He was playing concussed the rest of that game. To not bring your [second year] third round pick in, that's completely healthy, to make him your emergency quarterback that day, that means the only way he would've played is if one of the quarterbacks, either Goff or Bridgewater, would have been ruled out for the game....so by the Lions dissing Hendon Hooker, I don't think he has any trade value. A seventh round pick, that's all he's worth right now."
Hooker will start the Lions' second preseason game on Friday night against the Atlanta Falcons, and he should get the starting nod again for the third preseason game against the Miami Dolphins on Aug. 16. And maybe he should get (at least) the first series or two of the preseason finale against the Houston Texans on Aug. 23. If he needs reps, he should get them without question.
In the wake of the first preseason game, Pat Caputo of 97.1 The Ticket has freshly called the Lions out for how they are handling Hooker.
"It’d be nice Friday if we finally get a genuine clue whether Hendon Hooker is capable of being the Lions’ primary backup quarterback."
"Nobody is expecting Hooker will be surrounded by the Lions’ starting offensive cast in Atlanta, but hopefully there will be a reasonable amount of talent supporting him."
"That wasn’t the case in the Hall of Fame game when the Lions, inexplicably, inexcusably and puzzlingly, played Hooker only in garbage time vs. the Chargers."
After suggesting Hooker should start and play a good chunk of the remaining preseason games, Caputo captured the obvious bottom lines.
"Hooker wasn’t a seventh-round selection, he was a third-rounder. The expectation was he’d be ready for the backup role by now. The time to find out is now."
Hooker is moving toward being an evaluation mistake by a front office that makes very few mistakes of that ilk. But it's also fair to say the Lions have not always given themselves the best possible chance to get a fair evaluation of him, which is a slightly different level of failure that deserves calling out when it shows itself so clearly.
