Sportsnaut
While he was once benched, Bryce Young is firmly entrenched as the Carolina Panthers‘ starting quarterback heading into year three of his NFL career. Yet, as we’ve seen before, that doesn’t mean the Panthers can afford to ignore the rest of the QB depth chart.
Once the Panthers set their initial 53-man roster, it included Andy Dalton as Young’s primary backup QB. In fact, he was the only other quarterback on the Panthers’ roster. Not anymore.
On Wednesday, the Panthers agreed to add former Detroit Lions third-round pick Hendon Hooker to their 17-man practice squad.
While he hasn’t done much in the NFL, Hooker was once viewed as a highly touted draft prospect after finishing the final two years of his college career at Tennessee with a TD to INT ratio of 58 to 5. He also led the Volunteers to an incredible 11-2 record, which included an Orange Bowl appearance.
However, after Hooker suffered a torn ACL, his draft stock was undoubtedly impacted. Already viewed as an ‘older’ QB prospect at 25 years old (same age as New Orleans Saints’ second-round rookie Tyler Shough), NFL teams knew Hooker would be forced to miss his rookie season.
Still, two years later, Hooker couldn’t make an impact on the Lions throughout training camp and preseason performances. Once the Lions were forced to trim their roster from 90 down to 53 players, Hooker missed the cut.
While Lions head coach Dan Campbell foreshadowed the move by questioning how much room a now 27-year-old Hooker had to grow, it is a bit surprising that they weren’t able to get at least a late-round selection for a player who was selected 68th overall in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Having completed just 6 of 9 passes for 62 yards in his NFL regular season career, Hooker arrives in Carolina without much pro experience. Yet, it’s hard to blame the Panthers for taking a chance on potential, especially at the NFL’s most important position.
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