The Detroit Lions currently have a battle for the backup quarterback job at training camp between Hendon Hooker and Nate Sudfeld, with the two alternating second-team reps over the first four practices.
By all accounts, things have been close, but Sudfeld has been more consistent than his counterpart, which isn't entirely surprising considering Hooker is basically still a rookie after spending most of 2023 working his way back from injury.
Nevertheless, Hooker might've had his worst showing of training camp so far during the team's latest practice on Saturday.
According to Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports, Hooker "might be in some trouble" after he struggled on Day 4. Here's Payton's scathing review:
Hooker might be in some trouble when it comes to that QB2 spot. Saturday was a very rough day for him. He held onto the ball for way too long on multiple snaps and it cost him every time.
Hooker had multiple balls hit the dirt during the day and nearly all the other balls were short or overthrown. He had multiple passes broken up by DB's.
With that said, he had a very nice pass over the middle to Isaiah Williams that showed what he can do with a clean pocket and some confidence.
Meanwhile, Payton wrote this on Sudfeld:
Last year Nate Sudfeld had a rough camp and preseason. He was anything but sharp. On Saturday he looked like a guy that could command an offense during the regular season if he had to. He was very sharp and hit on nearly all of his passes. We'll have to see what he looks like in the preseason still, but Saturday we saw a guy that looked like he handled pressure a lot better and was zooming throws in there.
Pride of Detroit's Erik Schlitt didn't mention anything about Hooker in his practice review, but he did offer up praise for Sudfeld:
Nate Sudfeld had one of his better days of practice and was more creative with the ball than he’d been previously.
Hooker certainly had his moments over the first three practices and showed flashes of what he can become, but even those performances could best be described as up and down overall.
That said, nobody should be hitting the panic button on Hooker just yet. There are still a lot more practices to go, and three preseason games on top of those. But, as of right now, it's fair to call Sudfeld the favorite for the job after the first week.
