A couple months ago, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell referred to rookie quarterback Hendon Hooker’s rookie season as a “redshirt year.” That led many to speculate that the third-round selection would spend all of 2023 on the Non-Football Injury list as he rehabs from a torn ACL suffered toward the end of his final season at Tennessee.
However, a report from Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press suggests that Hooker will eventually come off the NFI list and join the 53-man roster.
“A Lions source familiar with the thought process on Hooker said that is not in the Lions’ plans (to sit him the entire season) and emphasized Hooker is expected to join the roster once healthy,” Birkett wrote this week.