Hendon Hooker is not your usual rookie quarterback in the league, mainly because he is already 25-years-old.
He is not only older, but doesn’t look like he’ll be playing much at all in 2023.
Hooker, who is rehabbing from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, is not expected to play this season.
“Really, this is a redshirt year for him,” Lions coach Dan Campbell told Chris Long on the Green Light Podcast, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “He’s got to get this leg right first, and then he’ll learn under Jared, and then let’s see what happens. If he can eventually become your two or maybe down the road, later on, it’s more than that, but it’s going to be a long time.”
With Hooker not playing at all, he now has the chance to watch and learn from Jared Goff, who was kept in the loop by the Lions that they might draft a quarterback.
“To be able to get him where we did — we traded back twice and we were still able to acquire him — we felt like that was, everything played out just the right way for us,” Campbell said. “We were excited, and to your point, yes, Goff is going to handle it well. He knew. [General Manager] Brad [Holmes] had called him, and he’s great. And he’ll help this guy just learn and grow.”
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Hooker’s openly discussed by fans and media as a possible successor to Goff, but Campbell said “it’s going to be a long time” before the team knows if that will be the case in Detroit.
“Let’s see what happens, if he can eventually become your (backup) or down the road, maybe it’s more than that, it’s going to be a long time,” Campbell said.
Goff, who is about to turn the other side of 30, may only have a few more playoff-caliber years left in him, and then it’s up to the Lions brass to decided where to go from there.
Hooker threw for 2,945 yards and 31 touchdowns against three interceptions in his first season with Tennessee and followed it up with a stellar college finish. Hooker threw for 3,135 passing yards and 27 touchdowns against just two interceptions in 2022, winning SEC Offensive Player of the Year.
