Hendon Hooker, a third-round rookie quarterback, has been activated by the Lions from the non-football injury list.
The Detroit Lions announced on Tuesday that they were waiving kicker Riley Patterson and activating third-round rookie quarterback Hendon Hooker from the non-football injury list.
While attending the University of Tennessee, Hooker tore his ACL in November 2022. The Lions have been gradually helping him recover from the injury. Three weeks ago, the Lions began Hooker’s evaluation window. On the last day of the period, the Lions had to decide on Hooker’s status, which resulted in his activation to the 53-man roster.
This move shouldn’t be shocking because the rookie’s coaches have stated during the season that they intended to bring him back whenever possible to help him prepare for his potential role in the NFL. Coach Dan Campbell then almost confirmed the report at his press conference on Monday.
After Teddy Bridgewater and Jared Goff, Hooker is anticipated to fill the role of QB3/emergency quarterback for the balance of the season. However, it is crucial for Hooker’s development to get some reps as soon as possible, given that Bridgewater informed Dave Birkett of the Free Press that he intends to retire at the end of the season.
As a result of a new rule that the NFL instituted this past offseason at the Lions’ request, the team can continue to use Hooker as a game-day inactive for the remainder of the season and the playoffs, but they can also keep him on hand as a backup quarterback in case circumstances demand it (just look at what happened to the San Francisco 49ers in the previous postseason NFC Championship game).
The addition of Hooker now demonstrates how much the Lions value getting him up to speed as soon as possible, even though they currently have a full roster and anticipate adding a few more players from injured reserve (C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Jason Cabinda are expected to begin their evaluation window this week).
After Patterson was benched in favor of practice squad kicker Michael Badgley in Week 15 and was a healthy scratch, the decision was made to waive him. Although it’s a little out of the ordinary that the Lions don’t have a kicker on their active roster, it’s important to note that Badgley still has two elevations left, which might give the team two more weeks before they need to bring in a kicker.
This season, Patterson has hit 15 of his 17 field goals, but he has also missed two extra points. The most recent one came in Chicago during the Bears game in Week 14, and it might have contributed to his benching the following week. However, the Lions’ choice to move on is probably more related to their confidence in Patterson at pivotal situations. The Lions would almost always choose to go for the field goal rather than try a kick in a fourth-down scenario where the distance was greater than fifty yards.
Expect the Lions to rely on Badgley going forward, as they are aware that a decision regarding his fate is also imminent.
After the game last week, Campbell remarked, “Yeah, they’ve been competing now for about five weeks.” “Before the Chargers, that is. We decided to give Badge (Badgley) a try against Riley (Patterson), and after their duel, he emerged victorious. We’re going to go there because, for this particular game, it just seemed appropriate and has been for a while. Have a great deal of faith in Badgley.
