Many of you know I watched Rodgers, Goff, and Boller in College when they were still young pups.
Thought I would look at some film including lowlights to see what I see on Hooker in comparison.
Here is what I see from 60 minutes of tape:
Good:
Efficient executor of different types of motion plays. This will fit excellent with this Lions offense.
Throws off platform easily and quickly. This is an upgrade over Goff.
Mobility is very good, especially when he is decisive with it. Can extend plays. Still a pocket passer. Upgrade over Goff.
Strong arm. Poised. +Accurate. Looks like a strong leader too.
Bad:
Internal clock can be slow and may not feel backside pressure. These are common and can be improved with reps.
Stares down primary receiver. If they don’t get open, he will get sacked or tuck and run.
While he is a fast runner with good juke moves, he runs tall and can kind of crumple when tackled. He looks like a guy that is going to get injured more if he runs too often and doesn’t slide.
Ugly:
Tends to loft the ball a lot instead of drive it. All but one of the picks I saw were floated over the receiver (or bad hands by the receiver not on him). This can be fixed as he has the arm to drive it, he just made a bad choice.
I’m not seeing him go through progressions hardly at all. I see why people called him a 1 -read QB. The fact that he can run RPOs, fakes, motion tells me that he can practice looking the opposite way of where he wants to go. Seems capable but not practiced as of college. This is what separates the Brady/Manning/Goff pocket passers from the 1-read mobile types. Watching the Tenn/Ala 2022 game, Young looks better at this and why he is the #1 overall pick.
Overall Summary:
He looks like a dude that can play. Better than Boller for sure He’s more accurate and mobile. More upside than Goff IF he can manage all the added complexity of the NFL game with protections and progressions. This is what tends to separate the franchise guys from the career backups.
Your thoughts? I miss anything? Are there good examples of him going through progressions?
He’s had 2 years to improve. He’s had Bridgewater, Brunell, and Goff to teach him more things.
I’m eager to see what he can do in the pre season. He will get a ton of snaps. I can see why he had 1st round grade, injury and age aside. I can see why fans will want him playing if Goff struggles. He could be a very exciting QB if he can make the needed jump to the NFL game.
He offense didn’t really use progressions. Every snap keyed on one receiver, which depending on how the defense reacted, would either be the target or toss it to the check down - Or run it
It was a single choice offense that also almost always kept max protect in. So he also didn’t need to worry about the blitz, or alternatively, like the great quarterbacks, exploit it
We know he has the physical tools to be an upper level starter. The reason he fell to the third round wasn’t just his injury. He will have to learn all the nuances of a full NFL offense at 28
Goff was one of the most blitzed quarterbacks in the league and I don’t have this data but I’d wager he is top five in how many different pass catchers he threw it to. He spreads out the ball and will go through progressions. Johnson also said in an interview that Goff goes to the line with five plays he can choose depending on what the defense does. And he calls his alerts quickly. I’ve read most NFL QBs will have two
Goff and Johnson built this offense together over the course of years building off what Goff was comfortable with playing at a Pro Bowl level with the Rams. It’s not something I’d expect any QB could step into and seamlessly perform. Hooker is going to need a few years of grooming if he’s going to take over an offense like ours. And keep it at a top five level
We will know more about him this year when he attends his first training camp. As of now he is a guy who played in gimmick offense who tore his ACL. He didn’t have a lot of success until he transferred to Tennesse.
Fair assessment and why I view him as an unknown at this point.
No idea how quickly he can go through his progressions ro handle presnap reads with what the Lions are currently running as an offense.
Guy is walking into his first camp where he can be a full participant after a year of mainly mental reps and some sideline reps.
My biggest fear with him is still his age. Though he won’t have the NFL punishment with him sitting for a couple of years at least so that saves some wear and tear. I know its crazy to talk about 26 years being old but in term of NFL years. I want him to obviously be something special but just worried that by the time the Lions use him his rookie deal will be over with. Hopefully though with him sitting if he does turn into something special he can have a longer career.
Goff and Rodgers did go through progressions at the college level and it’s part of why they were first rounders. Goff has always spread the ball around. Hooker definitely had a primary receiver on every play.
Goff did not call out protections and he had a run play and pass play he could run but nothing like the control or ability he has now as an 8 year vet. Meaning Goff is so much better and more mature that comes with reps and time. Hooker won’t be able to replicate or replace that for a few years at least as you said.
I wouldn’t. We needed a backup with upside and now we have one. That wouldn’t be a great net return. Let him ball out in preseason for a couple years then trade him on the last year of his cheap contract to a QB needy team for a better pick
No way unless he has looked terrible in practice and we’ve heard nothing like that.
He seems to be engaged and eager to learn. He has a lot of tools. At some point he needs to prove that he can put it all together on the field. The Lions will have the chance to see that in training camp and pre season.
But why though. These days a starter-level QB plays into their mid-30s pretty regularly. So we’re concerned that we’ll only get 8-10 years out of a guy?