It remains to be seen who the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers will be Saturday inside Ford Field for the preseason finale against the Detroit Lions, but for Lions head coach Dan Campbell, he knows who he wants to start under center for his team.
That would be second-year quarterback Hendon Hooker, who is currently the No. 3 QB on the Lions’ depth chart behind starter Jared Goff and top backup Nate Sudfeld.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Campbell said he would like to start Hooker Saturday and give him a ton of reps, but it just depends on how Hooker is in his recovery from a concussion that limited him ahead of the matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.
“Man, there was some real good things in that game and there was some real bad things, which doesn’t surprise me with where he is at,” Campbell said to reporters Tuesday, according to video via the Lions’ YouTube page. “So, certainly we want to get him a real good look. We’d love to give him a lot of reps this week. I think the idea would be, you’d love to start him this week. You know, I’d like to start him and then it’s just a matter of how much does he play? Is it a couple of series and Nate [Sudfeld] goes in and then he’s back?
“Or is it a quarter or is it a half? But he’s gonna get a really good look. He’s gonna get a lot of reps this week ’cause he needs them.”
Last week against the Chiefs, Hooker came on in relief of Sudfeld and completed 12-of-15 passes for 150 yards in the 24-23 win over Kansas City on the road. He added another five carries for 11 yards and a touchdown.
Campbell said that the plan was to start Hooker last week, but the concussion suffered against the New York Giants in the preseason opener threw that plan off. So now, leading up to the finale against the Steelers, Campbell wants to give the former Tennessee product a shot at starting.
It’ll just depend on how he is recovering and how practices go in the meantime.
Hooker was a third-round pick of the Lions in the 2023 NFL Draft after a breakout season with the Volunteers that ended early due to a torn ACL. That injury kept him out of the pre-draft process and limited his availability in his rookie season. Now though, he’s fully recovered and pushing hard for the QB2 job in Detroit.
Going against the Steelers will be a tough test, considering Pittsburgh’s defense has really gotten after the quarterback through the first two preseason matchups.
