Hendon Hooker is drawing plenty of interest from NFL teams ahead of the 2023 draft. The Tennessee quarterback has drawn recent Geno Smith comparisons for his veteran-level pocket presence, and suddenly he feels like a legitimate candidate to come off the board in the first round. Not only that, but NFL Media reports multiple teams now have him ranked as the third-best QB in his class, ahead of Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Kentucky’s Will Levis.
“There are plenty of teams that have him … third on their list, right below those top two in Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud,” James Palmer said Friday on Steve Smith’s “Cut To It” podcast. “Now, there’s a pretty sizable gap between the top two and then Anthony Richardson and Will Levis. Hendon Hooker slides right in there. … There are plenty of teams that are like, ‘I like this guy much better than Anthony Richardson or Will Levis.'”
Palmer added that teams are still concerned Hooker is older, entering the draft at 25 and coming off an ACL tear. There are also questions about his inexperience as a progression passer. And yet it’s possible a QB-needy team could take him far earlier than expected. Hooker recently visited the Commanders and has reportedly done extensive work with the Raiders, two teams that could be in the market for a first-round QB this year.
Richardson, meanwhile, is widely considered a boom-or-bust type with supersized athleticism but erratic passing marks, though he’s been a popular top-five projection — and a potential target for teams speculated as trade-up candidates, like the Titans. Levis is similar in that he offers dual-threat dynamism but has been more erratic than the top two QBs in Stroud and Young.
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Author: Cody Benjamin
April 7, 2023 | 3:09 pm
