Hendon Hooker 'around 90%,' Detroit Lions not ready for rookie QB to practice yet

Hendon Hooker said he is "around 90%" recovered from the knee injury he suffered last November, but the Detroit Lions aren't quite ready to have the rookie quarterback start practicing with the team.

"We’re not there yet," Lions coach Dan Campbell said Monday. "I mean, he’s getting better and we’ll make that decision when we feel like it’s ready to go, but we’ve certainly discussed him. The only way he’s going to get practice is if you put him on the roster, so we know that’s the obvious, it’s just a matter of when we do it."

A third-round pick in April out of Tennessee, Hooker is about a year removed from tearing the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee on Nov. 19, 2022.

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He told the Free Press last week while making an appearance for Bush's Beans that his rehab was going "great," but he was not sure when he'd be cleared to practice.

The Lions placed Hooker on the nonfootball injury list at the start of training camp, with the expectation he would return at some point this fall.

"We’re just playing it by ear and continuing to strengthen my legs and whole body," Hooker said. "That’s the whole goal right now moving forward, and then we’ll just play it week by week."

The Lions are set at the quarterback position with Jared Goff enjoying one of the best seasons of his career and Teddy Bridgewater entrenched as his backup. But the team would like to get Hooker on the practice field both to give him reps and evaluate his progress before next season.

Hooker was the Heisman Trophy frontrunner before his injury, but he operated in a spread offense in his two seasons at Tennessee and faces a big learning curve in the NFL.

He detailed some of that process in his interview with the Free Press last week.

"Really just understanding a lot of different nuances in the game of just being a pro quarterback and different responsibilities you have at the line of scrimmage, that it’s typical football but it’s always good to just hear those things being communicated, knowing what language that we’re speaking, that’s the biggest thing," he said. "The verbiage. Learning that and then translating that to your own and developing your own thoughts and your own creativity of plays, and just the way of dissecting defenses in a whole new way from college to the NFL. So that’s been the biggest thing for me, just understanding what we’re all trying to communicate to each other."

Hooker has been a regular in position and team meetings during his time on NFI and he spent training camp running through his own play script with trainers after practice.

He said he is doing a lot of change-of-direction work in his rehab now with a focus on "absorbing the power that I’m putting into the ground."

"I feel pretty good right now," he said. "I’d say I’m probably around 90%."

The Lions are in good shape health-wise coming off the bye, but do not need to rush Hooker back to the 53-man roster in case they need room for reinforcements during their playoff push.

Once he returns to practice, the Lions will have 21 days before they have to move Hooker to the active roster.

No matter when that happens, Hooker said this year will be a valuable learning experience that should help him in the future.

"I think it’ll be good," he said. "Whenever I’m on the field it’s going to be a surreal moment for sure, but I think that if I'm out there then it’s always good just to get reps whenever you can and every rep is valuable so any time that I do get to spend playing, it’s a blessing."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions QB Hendon Hooker return nears: 'Just a matter of when'