Lions Update Plan With Hendon Hooker as QB Roster Decision Looms: Report

Getty The Detroit Lions plan to activate rookie quarterback Hendon Hooker during the 2023 season according to The Detroit Free Press' Dave Birkett.

Members of the media and Detroit Lions fans are waiting curiously to see what the team does with its quarterback situation on the final roster cutdown day.

As is the case with so many NFL roster choices this time of year, it’s not an easy decision. And rookie Hendon Hooker might make it more complicated for the Lions behind center.

The Detroit Free Press’ Dave Birkett reported that while Hooker “could” begin the season on the non-football injury list, the Lions “are planning” to activate the rookie signal caller sometime during the 2023 campaign.

Hooker has only trained in individual drills this offseason. He suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in his left knee while playing for Tennessee in college last November.

Lions Reportedly Do Not Plan to Hold Back Hendon Hooker

Lions head coach Dan Campbell couldn’t have been any clearer with his plan for the rookie quarterback early in the offseason. While appearing on the “Green Light with Chris Long” podcast on May 8, Campbell flat out called the 2023 season “a redshirt year” for the third-round signal caller.

If that was still the plan, it would make sense for the Lions to place Hooker on the non-football injury list and leave him there for the entire season. When players spend the entire season on the NFI, teams have the option of tolling their contract.

In Hooker’s situation, placing him on the NFI doesn’t appear to be just a good idea — it’s a no-brainer. Birkett called it “a way to obtain an extra year of control on a rookie quarterback who is a long shot to be a meaningful contributor” this season anyway.

But Campbell and the Lions may view the practice repetitions Hooker could gain once healthy more valuable than the extra year of control.

“Honestly, we have not even talked about Hooker in those regards,” Campbell told reporters when talking about the team’s latest plans with the rookie quarterback, according to Birkett. “It’s been more about, ‘Man, let’s get him back.’ I know this, he’s putting in the work in the classroom. Bru and J.T. (Lions quarterbacks coaches Mark Brunell and J.T. Barrett) have done a great job with him, and I know that he’s studying on it, he’s getting it, he’s learning it, and he’s got some really good guys to learn from in there.”

Backup QB Competition With Teddy Bridgewater, Nate Sudfield

Birkett’s report about Hooker comes just as Campbell also revealed that the Lions are not guaranteed to keep three quarterbacks on their Week 1 roster. That’s, of course, interesting because the team signed Teddy Bridgewater on August 7.

The assumption upon the Lions signing Bridgewater was that he could supplant Nate Sudfeld as the Lions No. 2 quarterback. But a new NFL rule, which the Lions proposed, will allow teams to have a third signal caller dressed on game days this year without them counting toward a roster spot.

More than ever before, it makes sense for teams to keep a third quarterback on the 53-man roster. The Bridgewater signing was also generally seen as an indication that the Lions were planning to take advantage of the new rule.

However, that may not be the case.

“I don’t think that’s a factor into what we’re going to do with the roster,” Campbell told reporters on August 22. “I think for us it’s, is it worth keeping three quarterbacks, No. 1? No. 2, where are we at with the rest of the roster? You want to do that, but yet who are we losing to do that, or vice versa?”

How close the Lions believe Hooker is to being an option as the team’s No. 3 quarterback could be another factor when Detroit makes its final decisions behind center on August 29.

Both Bridgewater and Sudfeld struggled in the team’s preseason matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Bridgewater went 5-for-11 with 34 passing yards. Sudfeld completed 9 of 18 passes for 80 yards with a touchdown and interception.