Hendon Hooker is showing growth, but the Lions don't know what he is yet
Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell answered questions at the 2024 NFL combine on Tuesday morning and the subject of the Lions' 2023 third-round pick Hendon Hooker came up. The answer that he gave didn't inspire a lot of confidence that the Lions have a guy that can jump Jared Goff anytime soon, but there […]
Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell answered questions at the 2024 NFL combine on Tuesday morning and the subject of the Lions' 2023 third-round pick Hendon Hooker came up. The answer that he gave didn't inspire a lot of confidence that the Lions have a guy that can jump Jared Goff anytime soon, but there is growth and growth is good. Even if the Lions don't know what that growth will lead to just yet.
"The best I can tell you that there's growth. We saw growth and that's encouraging and that's all we can ask at this point. I don't think we entirely know what he is yet, there's not enough evidence. But I know this, we saw progress."
Hooker spent most of the 2023 season on the NFI list until the Lions activated him in mid December. Campbell went on to say that Hooker got plenty of work during the time that he was able to work. He got in a lot of 7 on 7's and good on good drills. But there's still a lot of work left to be done. So there won't be any quarterback controversy in Detroit anytime soon.
The good news is that Hooker will get a full training camp in 2024 and he'll also get to have his first live reps in preseason games in August. We'll get to see what he has. Until then, it's a waiting game to see if Hooker will be anything more than a premium backup quarterback for the Lions.
The Lions should consider a reunion with a former first-round pick
Former Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew had one last draft class in 2015 and he used his final first round pick on guard Laken Tomlinson out of Duke. Tomlinson was supposed to be the next piece for the Lions but he struggled early and wound up losing his starting job in his second season. […]
