Hendon Hooker, a rookie with the Detroit Lions, made his first practice return last week, getting to work directly with the coaching staff. Hooker was permitted to attend meetings while on the non-football injury list, but he was not permitted on the practice field. After his comeback, he will be able to get reps behind Teddy Bridgewater, the backup, and starter Jared Goff.
Mark Brunell, the quarterbacks coach, made a suggestion that one of the rookie’s initial tasks might be to play quarterback Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears during scout team drills prior to the Week 14 game.
“I think he has to imitate Justin Fields this week and he’s much better at that, I’m sure, than Teddy is,” said Brunell. “We give him a little grief because we love having him on the field, he works hard, and he’s a young man. However, we’re quite happy to have him here because he’s a gifted young man. However, up until now, we’ve only done solo drills; he hasn’t had a real rep. Even if he uses a scout team, it will follow the instructions on the card. However, you have to begin somewhere. I predict that he will get more at ease every week. And he is undoubtedly a gifted young man.
Playing scout team is a challenging evaluation because the coaching staff controls a lot of what goes on. Because his judgments will be predetermined and mapped onto cue cards, Hooker won’t have to make many reads.
Nevertheless, Brunell intends to assess the rookie’s technical attributes, like footwork and accuracy.Nevertheless, Brunell intends to assess the rookie’s technical attributes, like footwork and accuracy.I believe what you would observe is that you would look at his feet and consider whether the way the ball emerges is accurate. Apart from that, he’s just sort of following the instructions on the card and not actually reading anything, according to Brunell. He is sometimes instructed to pass to the individual who is circled among those receivers. It’s not like there’s anything to gain from that, listen. It’s not my call whether or not he will until he receives significant reps. Scout team, though, is only asking, “Where’s the ball go?” How does he release it from his hand? Is there a small zipper on it? Is that correct? Is he in motion?
In his 11 snaps during his Lions debut on Sunday, Bruce Irvin recorded a sack and two pressures. He was one step late in reaching quarterback Derek Carr as a result of one of those pressures, which led to a roughing the passer penalty.
Dan Campbell said going forward that the 36-year-old should see the field more frequently for the Lions in the upcoming weeks. Campbell stated, “I believe it’s, we would like to work him in more.” Giving him some chances to see where he is at, how he takes it, how his body is doing, and then possibly getting him some more was the plan last week. However, I believe he has earned that.
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