Inside the Article:
With the 68th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions selected Hendon Hooker. Hooker played all five years of his college football with three years coming at Virginia Tech and his final two at Tennessee.
Key Points:
- The Detroit Lions selected Hendon Hooker with the 68th overall pick.
- Hooker played three seasons at Virginia Tech and two seasons at Tennessee.
Hendon Hooker: Getting to Know the Detroit Lions No. 68 Pick
Hendon Hooker this past season would have most likely won the Heisman had he stayed healthy playing in 11 games completing 229 out of his 329 passes for 3,135 yards and 27 touchdowns and only two interceptions. In his career between the two schools combined he played in 45 games, he completed 632 of his 944 passes for a career of 8,974 yards and 80 touchdowns as well as only 12 interceptions.
Scouting Report
Via Dane Brugler:
STRENGTHS: Highly efficient passer … clean load and delivery with a smooth stroke … shows a natural feel for trajectory and pacing on his deep ball (led the FBS with 27 completions of 30-plus yards in 2022) … shows the pocket presence to find cleaner platforms with his quick-reaction movements … instinctive athlete and displays open-field elusiveness and acceleration (combined 45 rushes of 10-plus yards over the last two seasons) … showed a better feel on his 2022 tape for manipulating safeties with his eyes … played in a quarterback-friendly offense, but not a basic offense (protection calls, option routes, etc.) and showed full ownership at the line of scrimmage with excellent communication … leaner features, but his toughness is off the charts … “First one in, last one out” sounds cliché, but that is the reality with
Hooker’s mindset and work ethic (Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel: “When you walk into this building, you’re going to feel his energy and passion every single day.”) … set the Tennessee record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception (261, third-longest streak in SEC history) … needed only two seasons to rank top-five in Tennessee history with 58 career touchdown passes.
WEAKNESSES: Simplified college offense with heavy-play action (53.6 percent of his dropbacks in 2022) … too many passes sail, forcing receivers to work for the catch … his decision-making often feels predetermined in Tennessee’s offense … quick to check down and needs to improve his timing from read to read … the smallest hints of pressure will draw him out of the pocket … late to locate blitzers and can be surprised by pressures … fumbled 39 times in college, including 22 times over his two seasons at Tennessee … older prospect and will be 25 when he is drafted (was in the same high school recruiting class as Tua Tagovailoa, who is about to enter his fourth NFL season) … his medical reports will be important after he suffered a torn ACL in his left knee (November 2022), which sidelined him for most of the predraft process … additional medical info: tested positive for COVID (August 2020), which let to further tests and revealed a potential heart condition; deemed a “false alarm” after a procedure and he missed only two games; he suffered an convulsing episode (couldn’t stop shaking for 2.5 hours) on the sidelines a few months later (December 2020), which Hooker blamed on medication from the heart procedure.
Bottom Line
The Lions got their backup quarterback and potential quarterback of the future. In college, Hooker proved how much having speedy receivers benefits him, and when it's his time he'll have that with Amon-Ra St.Brown and Jameson Williams. I love Jared Goff but every Saturday I was glued to watching Hooker play and now he's on my favorite team. Hooker won't be ready to go for a while due to the injury he suffered but when he is ready he'll get to learn behind Goff and be ready to take the reigns and lead this team to success.
