Right now it seems like there are two camps when it comes to Detroit Lions backup quarterback Hendon Hooker. You’re either still firmly in on him or you’re sort of seeing the light that the Lions just don’t have a ton of faith in him. I’m in the latter.
Everything this team has done and said this year has pointed to the idea that they’re just not seeing it with their former third-round pick. From considering carrying a third quarterback all summer, to having interest in Daniel Jones to signing Teddy Bridgewater and making Hooker inactive for the playoffs. It’s all there.
With that in mind, the Lions are likely to be on the lookout for a backup quarterback this offseason and they can either go look for that guy in the draft, sign one free agency, or do both.
One guy to consider is former second-overall pick Zach Wilson. The former BYU standout did not have the best go in New York, but when you look at that team’s history with quarterbacks, basically no guy has had a good run there.
He sat on the bench under Bo Nix in Denver in 2024 and worked with new Lions offensive coordinator John Morton there.
Here’s the thing with Wilson, to me, he is a lot like Jared Goff in a sense. It’s a very small sense, but a sense nonetheless. The idea is that this guy has lost any confidence he’s ever had and he’s been completely written off. The only cure for that is being in the right place with the right coaches.
Mark Brunell, Ben Johnson, and Dan Campbell worked wonders for Goff and turned him into an MVP-caliber quarterback. The chances that Wilson could ever be that are gone, but the chances that he could be a solid backup quarterback are still there. It’s worth an invite to training camp at the very least.
This doesn’t have to be the Lions only move at quarterback if they do wind up moving on from Hooker. In fact it shouldn’t be. The Lions should still be on the lookout in the later days of the 2025 NFL Draft and they’ll need to get serious about things in the coming years.
For now, this is an idea to see what a guy can do in a good spot. The Lions don’t have to pay a fortune to make it happen and if it works out, that’s great. If it doesn’t, then you move on.