Pre-Draft Concerns Swirling Around Hendon Hooker

As the talk of Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker going in the first-round of the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft continue building, concerns are also swirling around the prospect.

Should he be in the first-round conversation?

Prior to the 2022 season, I had Hooker just outside of the first round based on his 2021 game film. Based on 2022 game film, I put a first-round grade on Hooker and moved him onto our First Round Mock Value Board.

Hooker reminds me a lot of QB Teddy Bridgewater, who went No. 32 in the 2014 NFL Draft (MIN).

Teddy Bridgewater 2.0?

Maybe he resembles Bridgewater too much?

Both Hooker and Bridgewater tore their left ACL, and Bridgewater has never been the same.

Bridgewater suffered his two years after going in the first round to Minnesota in 2016, and he’s since bounced around to five different NFL teams, and he is currently a free agent.

Teams are still recognizing that Bridgewater is in there somewhere, but they’re also recognizing he’s not the same.

We haven’t seen Hooker play in a real game situation since tearing his ACL in late November, and a big part of his game was being a physically elusive runner.

Will Hooker be the same player in live game situations post-injury?

Mechanics concern?

There is no question Hooker is a better QB prospect than Florida’s Anthony Richardson.

The bottom line, however, is this isn’t about Richardson. It’s about winning.

“How does his skill set translate to what we’ve seen succeed in the NFL,” is the number one question I ask myself when I’m grading college QB prospects.

College QBs can get away with things NFL QBs can’t. For example, college receivers are often running around wide-open. That doesn’t happen much in the NFL where the corners are a lot better and the defensive schemes are far more complex.

Something that jumps out on game film is Hooker’s flawed mechanics.

Hooker has this tight compact robotic looking throwing motion that he depends on to control the trajectory of his passes. This is what makes him so efficient, but it’s also potentially a huge problem at the next level.

Because of his dependence on doing this each and every time he throws from the pocket, it takes an extra obvious moment for him to gather himself before he throws.

In the NFL, that “extra moment” can turn into a pick-6.

This is the number one thing he needs to correct at the next level because if he doesn’t, he’ll be featured on Sports Center for the wrong reasons.

Inconsistencies

The next big thing I look at is whether the QB prospect is consistent or not?

Nothing will get a team beat faster in the NFL than inconsistencies from the QB position.

He was inconsistent going through his progressions on 2022 game film (tended to lock in with receivers at times, which is another big no-no in the NFL and gives corners extra time to break on passes). Additionally, he showed inconsistencies with his release time.

The average release time for QBs in the NFL is 2-3 seconds.

All hell breaks loose after that, and not in a good way for the offense.

How does the system he played in translate to the NFL?

There is also a concern out there that Hooker starred in the “Air Raid” offense at the University of Tennessee.

The Volunteers’ Head Coach Josh Heupel is a disciple of Mike Leach’s offensive system. This isn’t a knock, but how does this translate to Hooker playing in an NFL system?

Yahoo Sports wrote, “There is a concern in how the Tennessee offense operates compared to more complicated NFL ones [systems], as Hooker often only had to make a single read or target wide receivers who were schemed open for him.”

Can I see your driver’s license, please?

Hooker turned 25 years old in January.

People tend to make a big deal about the age of a prospect at the time they are drafted.

I’m not one of those people, but the concern still exists.

The Sporting News wrote, “That’s not especially old, even for an NFL rookie. But the fact that he’s four years older than many of his counterparts in the 2023 draft class — including top prospects Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud — makes him a riskier pick in the eyes of front offices. He’ll have that much less time to adjust to the NFL compared to his younger rivals.”

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL Scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He currently writes for Sports Illustrated New York Jets and he is the Editor-in-Chief for First Round Mock. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. He can be followed on Twitter @firstroundmock.