Ahead of a season in which the Detroit Lions have legit Super Bowl aspirations, it would be of immense help if the team had an insurance policy behind quarterback Jared Goff, as one injury to the starting signal-caller could derail Detroit's season.
Behind Goff, the Lions have veteran Nate Sudfeld, who is coming off a torn ACL, and 2023 third-round pick, Hendon Hooker, who didn't do much last season as he worked his way back from his own torn ACL suffered in college.
While the story is pretty much written on Sudfeld, Hooker remains a total wild card, as he's yet to have a chance to show what he can do. However, now that he's fully healthy, he's getting normal practice reps and will see action in the preseason.
Entering his second season, the Lions are hoping that Hooker can show he can run the offense and be a stable solution to at least keep things afloat if Goff has to miss time for any reason.
“We need to feel like by the end of camp this guy can, he can run this offense,” head coach Dan Campbell said, according to Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. “He’s somebody we know that, man, we can play the game a certain way with him.
"We know he’s going to be able to process the information, he’s going to get us in the right play, and he’s somebody that we can — man, he’s going to keep the ship afloat. That’s it. We don’t need him to come in and win a game. You just want to feel like, ‘All right.’ So obviously he’s going to need to take another step up.”
Campbell was pleased with what he saw from the 26-year-old on Wednesday, per Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com, but as we wrote in our OTAs takeaways article Thursday, Twentyman said that Hooker had an "up and down" day.
He missed a couple throws over the middle he'll like back when he sees them on tape, but he also showed terrific touch on a sideline pass to running back Jake Funk and hit a tight window throw to wide receiver Daurice Fountain over the middle for a completion. Hooker ran a nice situational period putting the offense in field goal range after starting from his own 37 with one minute and 19 seconds on the clock. Hooker has received all the second-team reps in the two open OTA practices so far.
But that's to be expected for the second-year signal-caller, who is really in his rookie year after not being afforded the opportunity to have a full offseason in 2023 while rehabbing, and not getting into any games during the regular season.
"It's a learning curve," Hooker said. "Jumping in and really taking real reps and navigating through the offense through audibles and checks is a new perspective, but I'm enjoying going through the process."
One goal Hooker has is getting back to playing loose like he did in college, and part of that is not thinking too much.
"Just taking full command of the offense in the huddle and playing loose and having fun," Hooker said. "Not really thinking too much and just reacting and playing like my old self."
If Hooker can prove himself, not only would he give the Lions an insurance policy for Goff in 2024, the team could eventually turn around and trade him for draft capital now that it looks like Goff isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
