As he overlooked the crowd of reporters and flashing cameras at the NFL Combine media availability on Friday morning, Hendon Hooker had answers locked in for the doubters while answering questions in the room.
At one point during the session, the former Tennessee quarterback confidently delivered a comeback to one of the big draft criticisms that analysts have come up with since the end of the season. Many have pointed to Tennessee’s offense and head coach Josh Heupel’s scheme as more of the reason for Hooker’s success compared to his own personal game on the field.
Take The Draft Network, for example.
“Hooker isn’t tasked with making many decisions and throws are often predetermined,” The Draft Network wrote in their evaluation of the former Tennessee quarterback. “Hooker hasn’t showcased himself as a quarterback who makes anticipatory throws with consistency.”
Hooker answered those exact critics on Friday morning.
“It’s not my fault nobody could cover my receivers,” Hooker said to the media on Friday at the combine via 104.5 The Zone’s Lucas Panzica. “My job is to get them the ball.”
Hooker continued on to break things down even more. Based on his response, it sounds like this is a topic that Hooker anticipated being asked about.
“Okay, yeah, so a lot of these questions about one-sided reads, we have pure progression routes,” Hooker said. “It’s not my fault my first read is getting open. We have, you know, pre-snap blitz. One high, two high. Which side. Double footwork combo. We have pure progression with an alert, with an option. So, you know, any of these questions, they’re cool and all, but if you really dig into our offense and actually watch the film, then you would understand, it’s elevated.”
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That wasn’t the only statement that Hooker was waiting to make on Friday morning, though. Hooker also spoke about the biggest thing that he is ready to show the league, especially when it comes to topics the experts are knocking him for.
“Just controlling the offense,” Hooker said. “As you can see on film, a lot of the times, I make a lot of protection calls, make a lot of checks at the line. You see run or pass, pass or run. And then I can make every throw. The way that we run our offense, the wide splits, those are all grown-man throws. I’m not throwing any five-yard outs. I’m throwing big-boy balls.”
The criticism when it comes to Hooker’s ability on the field compared to Heupel’s offensive scheme is something that every Tennessee skill player, to an extent, will have to discuss or answer at some point. Take it from NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah last week on The Pat McAfee Show.
“The hard thing with that [Tennessee] offense, though, is that they literally spread you out from sea to shining sea,” Jeremiah said. “I mean, they’re like two yards from the sideline on each side. And then they put Hyatt, the track star, in the slot. And for some reason, everyone in the SEC thought it would be a wise idea to put a safety over him, and [Hooker] just throws vertical after vertical after vertical.”
The 2023 NFL Combine will continue throughout the weekend in Indianapolis.
“It’s not my fault nobody could cover my receivers”
Hooker stands by the way his abilities will translate in the NFL pic.twitter.com/5ZbsB7LjIw
— Lucas Panzica (@lucaspanzica) March 3, 2023
