2023 NFL Draft Player Profiles: Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker

From now until the 2023 NFL Draft, we hope to scout and create profiles for as many prospects as possible, examining their strengths, weaknesses, and what they can bring to an NFL franchise. These players could be potential top-10 picks, all the way down to Day 3 selections and priority undrafted free agents. Today, I’ll be profiling Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker.

#5 Hendon Hooker, QB, Tennessee (6th-Year Senior) – 6030, 217LBS

Senior Bowl / NFL Combine

Measurements

The Good

— Stands confident and tall in the pocket
— Above average arm strength and velocity; possesses the ability to wrangle in throws and utilize touch based on the situation and nature of the play breakdown
— Throws with great anticipation relative to the play design
— Good ball location; doesn’t throw hospital balls or give defenses many opportunities to jump passes
— Deep ball accuracy is superb
— Tight, quick throwing motion that sees torque rise from his plant foot up through the football
— Utilizes crisp, consistent and purposeful footwork mechanics
— Consistently makes intelligent decisions in relation to protecting the ball, particularly in the pocket – just two interceptions in 2022
— A quality runner who can be relied upon to pick up critical first down yardage off a broken play or as a designed runner
— Shows traits within the scheme that he can be taught nuances of pro-style offenses, such as looking off safeties and reading coverages

The Bad

— Tennessee’s scheme didn’t require him to read defenses and presented an overwhelming number of opportunities to throw to wide-open receivers
— Alarmingly few examples of throwing into windows in tight coverage
— Was not often tasked with throwing intermediate passes over the middle of the field
— While clearly not oblivious to the pass rush, his internal clock to get rid of the ball or escape is oftentimes far too forgiving leading to many coverage sacks
— Too quick to tuck the ball away when scrambling
— Takes way too many big hits as a runner
— Decision-making when scrambling to throw is questionable

Bio

— Birthday: January 13, 1998 (25 years old)
— 2022 SEC Offensive Player of the Year
— 2022 Finalist for Maxwell, Unitas, Manning, and Walter Camp awards
— Finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting
— Played six total seasons of college football, four at Virginia Tech, including a redshirt season, and two at Tennessee
— Broke Peyton Manning’s school record for career completion percentage at 68.8%
— Tore his ACL on November 19, 2022, against South Carolina
— Career Stats (VT and Tenn.): Completed 632 of 944 passes for 8,974 yards and 80 touchdowns to 12 interceptions and rushed 517 times for 2,079 yards (sack yardage included) and 25 touchdowns
— Co-authored a faith-based children’s book with his younger brother, Alston

Tape Breakdown

Hendon Hooker as an NFL Draft prospect is like a dating profile that has nearly all of the qualities that you’re looking for but just enough red flags to make you question whether you should actually risk it all. He ran Tennessee’s spread offense with such excellency that the Volunteers reached heights they hadn’t experienced in most of the university’s student population’s lifetime. But it’s because of that offense, his age and a torn ACL late in the season that so many within the draft community are perplexed as to where his draft value should truly lie, and if any team should make the kind of move that would indicate he’s the future of the franchise.

Diving into those tantalizing green flags, Hooker, with four years of starter experience, plays with an obviously high football IQ. He rarely turns the ball over and operates his offense with wonderful consistency.

What will often be the first point of contingency against Hooker is that head coach Josh Heupel’s offense is a one-read scheme. The route concepts are too deep for the NFL and his receivers are schemed to be open at unattainable levels by NFL standards. This first clip against Alabama shows that off pretty clearly. However, I included this clip to show that I believe he has coachable traits as he transitions.

Watch as Hooker makes his play fake. He draws both safeties to the right side of the field before launching this rainbow arc of a touchdown pass. It’s very common from play to play for Hooker to draw safeties away from his first read before locking on.

In today’s NFL, what’s more drooled over than big-play ability by your quarterback? Yes, the Vols liked to go deep often enough to make even Bruce Arians blush, but Hooker displayed on a near week-to-week basis that his deep ball placement is near the top of this draft class, especially outside the numbers.

Hooker doesn’t have an Allen/Mahomes-like cannon strapped to his right shoulder, but he does generate a great deal of torque from his plant leg up through the football. Coupled with a solid release mechanic, Hooker’s deep ball prowess is a shining example of why he can be a solid option at the next level. See here as he launches another rainbow from the opposite hash to the near sideline against the Gators. While, yes, the receiver does have to stretch out for this particular example, Hooker routinely puts the ball where only his man can make a play at the football.

He also throws with great touch and anticipation. He can transition from his first read – he oftentimes just didn’t need to. Here’s an example against Alabama. Hooker sees through his first read as the curl route is blanketed by the Crimson Tide defender. He gives a slight pump before resetting and dishing a touch pass to the second-level in-breaking receiver for a big gain. Get a good glimpse of his smooth footwork and throwing mechanics here as well.

In today’s NFL, a quarterback that can make big plays with his legs just as seamlessly as his arm is all the rage, right? Well, Hooker fits that bill too. He’s no Lamar Jackson in the open field, but he does efficiently take advantage of the space that’s in front of him and can be a problem to track and bring down for opposing defenders in the open field. Watch him create an explosive play on the ground here against Florida. Busting out of the scrum of a collapsed pocket, he sets up a blocker along the way to evade two defenders with one juke move.

Now for those red flags that you can’t quite tell if you want to get over or not. First up is his pocket presence. Hooker stands tall and confident in the pocket and maneuvers quite well and will deliver the ball as he takes a shot. He’s tough, no doubt. However, he will stand in the face of pressure too long if his first read isn’t open. The downfall of scheming one read to be ridiculously open? There’s not often anyone else to get the ball to. 

Here, the play breaks down against Georgia, a very common theme in that game. Hooker looks to scramble to make something happen. He gets outside of the pocket and takes a monster shot, something he’s prone to do in and out of the pocket, and fails to get rid of the ball. 

In the three games I watched, all against high-quality, ranked SEC opponents, Hooker did not throw the ball away once, never slid and only went out of bounds once in the clip above. He protects the ball at a very strange and frustrating cost. 

Same game against the Bulldogs, later in the contest. The blitz is only temporarily picked up and Hooker begins to scan the field as his first read is taken away. Hooker clearly has no problem staying in the pocket despite his athleticism. But throughout this contest and in spurts elsewhere, his internal clock is too long.

Add in aspects that aren’t easily displayed in clips — such as a lack of examples that have him throwing at the intermediate level across the middle of the field, virtually no tight window throws against the top defenses he played — and the basic red flags of a spread quarterback are all there.

Of course, the story doesn’t end there. Hooker turned 25 in January and suffered an ACL tear in mid-November, which could very well impact his availability as a rookie. I’s hard to envision how a team feels comfortable scheduling a first date to take the field with Hooker as its franchise quarterback.

Conclusion

Hendon Hooker would be a no-brainer first-round grade for me if it weren’t for the ACL injury or his birthday. With both of those situations factored into his grade, I fell on a second-round grade.

I guess it’s a possibility that some Steelers fans may see an opportunity to snag Hooker in the middle of Day 3 and have a quality No. 3 who could develop into a great backup for Kenny Pickett. But I think it’s safe to say at this point that that is not a feasible situation. More and more rumors have surfaced over the past several days that Hooker could in fact be a first-rounder. Even if he isn’t, it’s likely that he’ll at least be drafted early enough to be expected to have a shot to start for the franchise that does select him within the next couple of seasons.

Hooker’s a struggle for me. He’s clearly got the right stuff between the ears to develop and has a solid arm and athletic ability. But can an NFL franchise really afford to redshirt a 25-year-old quarterback, especially with much of that season taken away physically due to a knee injury? He could be the steal of a strange quarterback class or simply be the best backup in the league for the next decade. That’s too volatile for my tastes, so, to finally put an end to the dating references, I’m swiping left on Hooker. But hey, the team that does swipe right may find the one in a sea of red flags that have a strange orange hue to them.  

Projection: Second Round

Depot Grade: 8.3 (Future Quality Starter) (MED)

Games Watched: Florida ‘22, Alabama ‘22, Georgia ‘22