The Detroit Lions will close out their 2025 preseason on Saturday afternoon with a matchup against the Houston Texans and few, if any players on the team need a standout showing as badly as quarterback Hendon Hooker.
For the second-straight year, Hooker is battling for the backup quarterback job behind Jared Goff, but this time around he's squaring off with Kyle Allen after beating out Nate Sudfeld in 2024.
And not only has Allen been stiffer competition, he's on the verge of winning the QB2 job outright, if he hasn't done so already. Over the previous two preseason games, Allen has outplayed Hooker by a wide margin.
“I would say right now if you had to go in with a No. 2 (quarterback) right now who would you trust more? Yeah, I would trust Kyle more because he’s proven more after these two games,” head coach Dan Campbell said of Allen after preseason Week 2.
Hooker needs a miracle to win the backup quarterback job going into preseason Week 3. But could Hooker still make the 53-man roster if he doesn't?
Is Hendon Hooker a cut candidate?
Hooker is most definitely a cut candidate, and for multiple reasons.
For starters, Campbell has strongly hinted that the team would prefer to carry extra depth elsewhere on the roster rather than a third quarterback the team may never utilize.
“Well that’s exactly what it is. If you do (carry a third quarterback), you lose depth, what, D-line or O-line?" Campbell asked. "Or receiver, or defensive back, or linebacker or — you get the point."
"So, how important is that relative to the other positions? Look, call it what you want, when you have a year like we did last year, you get affected a little bit by it," he added. "It has an effect on the way you think. Depth, depth, depth. We’ve got to make sure that we have the depth."
Another problem with justifying keeping Hooker as the third quarterback is that he hasn't shown any progress from last year. At best, Hooker looks like the exact same player we saw last preseason.
If Hooker does get cut, there's a chance he'll make it through waivers and the Lions will keep him on the practice squad.
But there's also a chance he gets claimed and the Lions don't get the opportunity to keep him on the practice squad. We wouldn't rule out Hooker simply wanting a change of scenery and signing with a different team's practice squad, either.
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