Becoming the team that took a chance on Hendon Hooker in the 2023 draft, the Lions are still not sold on the former college standout as their entrenched backup quarterback. This view became clear when they brought Teddy Bridgewater out of retirement last year , and a subsequent free agency decision affects Hooker’s standing as well.
The Lions signed Kyle Allen after his Steelers season . While Allen is not a clear-cut backup option for Jared Goff , the Lions will give the 2024 third-stringer a chance to usurp Hooker this offseason.
“Hooker, no different than Allen, are competing,” Dan Campbell said, via DetroitLions.com
. “The best way to help guys really reach their full potential is competition. You can say things the best you can to prop them up, but at some point, you just have to go compete and it’s him or you. I anticipate Hooker’s going to compete. That’s what he does.”
Hooker had spent much of last season as Goff’s backup, seeing his first game action during blowouts. The ex-Tennessee and Virginia Tech starter has attempted nine career passes. Late in training camp last year, Campbell said Nate Sudfeld held a lead on Hooker for the backup job. But the Lions still kept Hooker on their active roster and cut Sudfeld before setting their 53-man roster. Allen brings another threat to Hooker’s QB2 status.
Entering the NFL after a November 2022 ACL tear dinged his draft stock, Hooker was the fifth quarterback chosen that year. Rumblings about first- and second-round landing spots circulated before that draft, but the once-surging Volunteers QB tumbled into Round 3. Two years remain on Hooker’s rookie contract, and despite going into only his third season, the former intriguing prospect is 27. This represents an important offseason for a player who had been viewed as something of a project coming into the league.
Allen joined the Lions on a one-year, $1.27MM deal; only $100K is guaranteed, giving the Lions freedom to cut the nomadic reserve while incurring barely any dead money. A former UDFA going into his age-29 season, Allen has made 19 career starts. Many came with the Panthers in 2019, though he also made four starts for a playoff-bound 2020 Washington outfit. Allen is a career 62.7% passer who has averaged a pedestrian 6.7 yards per attempt. He has stopped through Carolina, Washington, Houston, Buffalo and Pittsburgh during his career.
While Lions GM Brad Holmes expressed confidence in Hooker, the Lions’ moves since he came off the NFI list have not reflected it. Barring another Bridgewater unretirement, however, Hooker has another clear shot to win the backup job behind one of the NFL’s most durable players. Jake Fromm is also on the Lions’ roster, but he appears to be the least likely of the team’s non-Goff QB trio to make the team. That said, Fromm spent all of last season on Detroit’s practice squad; he would give the team some insurance if the Hooker-Allen competition produces a player not worthy of a spot on the active roster or the P-squad.