When the Detroit Lions took quarterback Hendon Hooker in the third round (pick No. 68 overall) in the 2023 draft, they knew he would have what amounted to a redshirt rookie season as he worked his way back from a torn ACL late in his final college season at Tennessee.
Moving toward last season, Hooker was the easy favorite to be the Lions’ No. 2 quarterback. A finger injury lingered from OTAs into training camp, which seems to have impacted how quickly he usurped the unremarkable Nate Sudfeld in that position battle.
Hooker saw some action in the Lions’ blowout wins over the Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars during the regular season. But amid rumored interest in Daniel Jones during the season and the late-December signing of Teddy Bridgewater, it has become easy to question if Hooker has a future with the Lions.
Bridgewater was also elevated to the No. 2 quarterback spot over Hooker for the playoff game against the Washington Commanders. It seems the Lions are ready to find a different backup for Jared Goff if they can.
On last Friday’s edition of “PFT Live” with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, NBC “Sunday Night Football” analyst Rodney Harrison pointed to the New York Jets as the top potential trade suitor for Hooker.
“I’m gonna tell ya exactly what I’m gonna do”, Harrison said. “I’m gonna call Detroit, and say ‘hey, I’m very interested in Hendon Hooker, your backup quarterback’. He’s healthy, he was a Heisman guy, until he got hurt at the University of Tennessee. I think this young man, I got a chance to see him often, he’s big, he’s smart, he’s an older guy, because he spent a lot of time in college…he’s very mature. But I would trade for Hendon Hooker. Watch out for that name.”
Do the Lions have a sneaky plan with Hendon Hooker?
Florio brought up Bridgewater being signed off the street after leading his high school alma mater to a state title and elevated over Hooker as the No. 2 quarterback for the playoff game as a possible concern.
Harrison continued to pull no punches in his praise of Hooker.
“You know Mike I was thinkin’ about that, because I was very frustrated because I thought Hendon would get his opportunity”, Harrison said. “Then I started thinkin’ ‘this kid is a really good player, maybe they don’t want the rest of the league to see this kid play and see how good this kid is.”
Harrison overlooked that Hooker’s “opportunity” for the playoff game against the Commanders would have been to be in uniform, as he had been all season, and he only would have played if something happened to Jared Goff or it was another blowout win. Goff did leave the game briefly in concussion protocol, and Bridgewater played one series that ended quickly with Jameson Williams’ 61-yard touchdown run.
Florio took it to the tentacle of if it comes out the Jets want Hooker and the Lions say no, then they might believe they have something and “aren’t ready to deploy it.”
Florio cited an example from 2006, when Sean Payton left the Dallas Cowboys to become the New Orleans Saints coach and tried to trade for Tony Romo. Then Romo became the Cowboys’ starting quarterback the following season. So if it plays out that the Jets want Hooker, or anyone else wants him for that matter, and the Lions don’t let him go, Florio wonders when they might “take the baton from Jared Goff and give it to Hendon Hooker.”
Harrison sort of backed up the idea of Hooker replacing Goff at some point, with the notion that playing Hooker may invite questions about why the Lions paid Goff like they did.
All in all, launched by the idea the Jets should be very interested in him, Harrison made Hooker out to be something we simply haven’t seen so far as an NFL quarterback. Which isn’t to say he can’t be a starter, but he’s 27 years old. So if the Lions have some sort of sneaky plan to have him replace Goff (they probably don’t, and shouldn’t), the clock is ticking. Otherwise, the door should be wide open for trade offers.
