Report: Detroit Lions keeping QB Hendon Hooker on NFI list to start season

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport is reporting that the Detroit Lions plan on keeping rookie quarterback Hendon Hooker on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list to start the 2023 NFL season, as expected.

Hooker, who was drafted with pick No. 68 in the third round of the NFL draft, is currently recovering from an ACL injury suffered last November at the University of Tennessee. Hooker was placed on the NFI list ahead of training camp and has been slowly acclimating to the NFL through pre-planned workouts with the training staff.

“We’ve got our training staff, our strength coaches that take him through a workout, and it’s really scripted,” coach Dan Campbell explained during training camp. “And so it’s our plays, it’s our reads and so he goes through the drops, makes the play-call, goes through the drops, throws, and then has his sprint and he takes it down the field.”

By opening the season on the NFI list, Hooker would be required to sit out the first four weeks of the regular season but would be eligible to come off the list at any time after Week 4.

Once healthy enough to join the team, reports are that the Lions planning on activating Hooker at some point during the season. For now, Hooker will have to continue his pre-planned workouts with the training staff.

With this anticipated transaction, the Lions are down to 75 players on the roster with 22 more cuts to go. You can follow along with all of the Lions roster cuts in our 2023 tracker.