Lions Do Not Know What Hendon Hooker Is Yet

Hendon Hooker showed progress in rookie season.

Hendon Hooker spent his rookie season in the National Football League rehabilitating from a torn ACL suffered in college and learning the ropes. 

It is expected the talented signal-caller will compete to be Jared Goff's backup in 2024. 

This offseason, Hooker will spend extensive time training in Florida with Teddy Bridgewater, who recently retired and will coach a high school football team down South. 

After being taken off the injured reserve list, Detroit's 2023 third-round draft pick did not hesitate to pick the brains of the veterans on the roster. 

Hooker explained at the end of the season, "It gave me an opportunity to get my feet wet and see what real action looked like. Especially in a competitive situation. Sometimes I'd be thrown into red zone or sometimes I'd be thrown into third down. It's a blessing to be out there and be able to command the huddle. Direct guys and give guys accurate balls so they can be playmakers."

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Speaking at the combine, head coach Dan Campbell expressed the rookie gained valuable experience and showed growth, but indicated there was not enough evidence to determine what his outlook would be at this point in his career. 

“Man, I would say it's hard because he was coming off the injury. He didn’t get to play but he got a ton of, by the end of the year, call it three months, somewhere in there of practice time and did a lot of the scout team," Campbell said. "Learned from Teddy Bridgewater, Jared Goff, and 7-on-7, a few team reps, good on good."

For young players deemed to be on the path of development, Detroit's coaching staff tends to take it slow, allowing players to work towards meeting their potential. 

Similar to Brodric Martin, who was on the inactive list for most of the season, Hooker was not expected to compete with Goff for playing time, at least not in his rookie season. 

"The best I can tell you is there’s growth, we saw growth, and that’s encouraging. That’s all we can ask at this point," Campbell said. "I don’t think we entirely know what he is yet, there’s not enough evidence. But I know this, we saw progress and that’s what we’re looking for.”