Hendon Hooker’s ACL tear further complicates his draft evaluation

Throughout the 2022 season, Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Hendon Hooker has led the team to a top-ten ranking in a season that includes a massive win at home against the Alabama Crimson Tide. After that game, Hooker was firmly in the national spotlight and mentioned as a legitimate contender for the Heisman Trophy.

That was until he tore his ACL last week against South Carolina. In a game where Tennessee got blown out and saw their playoff hopes evaporate, they also lost their leader and one of the nation’s most productive passers.

As a fifth-year senior, Hooker will be entering the NFL Draft in 2023. Prior to the injury, some pundits were projecting him to be a first-round selection with a chance to go within the first five picks.

Now, with an injury that will cost him all of his first NFL off-season and some of his rookie season, what does the NFL do with Hooker? Unfortunately, injuries are only part of what makes the evaluation of Hooker so troublesome.

A Tough Evaluation for Hendon Hooker

While Hooker is certainly a talented passer who is deserving of consideration with a relatively high selection, there are multiple reasons why he is unlikely to go in the first round of April’s draft. Of course, the aforementioned injury will scare some teams off. If a general manager is looking for a young passer to save his job, Hooker simply will not be available to do so until at least a month into his rookie season.

In addition to this, Hooker is quite old for a prospect. When he celebrates his birthday in January, he will be 25 years old when he is drafted. For comparison, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert will also be 25 next season but is currently in the midst of his third NFL season.

With three seasons at Virginia Tech before spending the last two at Tennessee, Hooker is certainly going to enter the NFL with experience. However, NFL teams will be skeptical about investing in a player whose career is likely to be about four or five seasons shorter than that of Bryce Young or C.J, Stroud.

From an on-field standpoint, Hooker is hardly perfect. Struggling with accuracy and ball placement at all levels of the field, he is also routinely late to trigger on routes over the middle of the field. While Josh Heupel’s offense helped Hooker dominate in college, it did little to prepare him for the NFL.

So, when he enters the NFL Draft, teams will be looking at a prospect who is injured, old, and has a relatively steep learning curve ahead of him. Alas, as the saying goes, it only takes one team to fall in love with him and it is entirely possible a general manager falls in love with his highlight reel deep ball and leadership abilities. Regardless, it will not be an easy evaluation for teams next spring.