Former Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker looks to be on the right track of rehabilitation in his rookie preseason despite the ACL injury that he suffered last November.
The Detroit Free Press’s Dave Birkett wrote on Monday that the Detroit Lions “are planning” to activate third-round pick Hendon Hooker at some point in the season.
“Hendon Hooker could open the season on the non-football injury list at next week’s roster cut deadline, but the Detroit Lions are planning to have the rookie quarterback on their 53-man roster at some point this fall,” Birkett wrote on Monday for the Detroit Free Press.
The Lions’ rookie quarterback looks to be active in Detroit’s camp as he continues the process of recovery.
“He has conducted regular post-practice workouts for trainers during training camp, often running through his own practice script and sprinting downfield after passes to simulate moving an offense in a game,” Birkett wrote about Hooker.
Hooker led Tennessee to a No. 1 ranking and a 9-1 overall record during the 2022 college football season before suffering a torn ACL against South Carolina in the penultimate game of the regular season. The Tennessee quarterback immediately began the road to recovery and was drafted 68th overall by the Lions despite not being able to participate in various training camps such as the Reese’s Senior Bowl, the NFL Combine, and his Tennessee Pro Day.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell said after the draft that the plan was to essentially treat Hooker’s rookie season as a redshirt season and have him learn from the sidelines. The Lions even brought in NFL veteran Teddy Bridgewater as a backup in early August to create more depth in the quarterback room with their draft pick sidelined.
In late July, Detroit placed Hooker on the non-football injury list, meaning that he must miss the first four games of the season. If a player stays on the NFI list for more than four games, the team may potentially have the option of altering that player’s contract.
There’s still a lot that will need to happen for Hooker to be activated during his rookie season, but Birkett’s report on Monday makes it clear that the Lions are at least mulling over the decision, and will for a while because of the NFI designation. But with the ideas that Campbell has complimented Hooker’s rehab process and the reported success of the rehabilitation up to this point, former Vol Hendon Hooker looks to be on the road to being activated by the Lions at some point this season.
For more on Hooker’s ongoing preseason with the Lions, see Birkett’s article here.
