2023 NFL Draft: Packers to bring in Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker for visit

According to ESPN’s Matt Miller, the Green Bay Packers will have a visit with Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker later this week. Hooker previously visited the New Orleans Saints and will also visit the Tennessee Titans. He also reportedly had visits with the Indianapolis Colts, New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Texans and Washington Commanders.

If you’re sensing a theme here, yes, all of Hooker’s visits are from teams that have uncertain quarterback situations but do not pick particularly high in the 2023 draft — outside of the Texans, who may or may not use the second overall pick on a passer. Currently, Hooker is 50th overall on the consensus draft board, meaning that he is most likely in play for the Packers in the second round. According to recent reporting, the New York Jets’ offer to Green Bay in a proposed trade for quarterback Aaron Rodgers involves a Jets second-round pick, either the 42nd or 43rd in the draft.

While most expect Hooker to be drafted on Day 2, there are big fans of Hooker’s game. For example, Mike Tannenbaum of ESPN — formerly the general manager who traded for Brett Favre when the two were together with the Jets — mocked Hooker as high as fifth in a mock draft just last week.

Hooker has a strong arm and an NFL frame at 6’4” and 222 pounds, but he certainly has some question marks, too. For starters, he’s already a 25-year-old, in part due to a transfer from Virginia Tech and in part due to the NCAA’s free year of eligibility awarded to every player who suited up during the Covid season of 2020. Second, he’s coming off of an ACL tear, despite finishing as a First-Team All-SEC quarterback and the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year. Third, and arguably most important, is that he played in a wide-open passing offense where receivers are taught to run away from coverages rather than “winning routes” with timing and chemistry from their quarterback.

If you want to read more about the type of passing offense Tennessee ran, I highly suggest this article from Noah Riley — who now works with the Baltimore Ravens — about Baylor’s vertical passing game, which inspired what the Volunteers run today. You should also read this article from our own Paul Noonan, who wrote about how Hooker is the toughest projection in this draft class just yesterday.

The fact that Hooker is being brought to Green Bay shows at least some intent from the Packers' front office to legitimately consider him in the draft. It’s worth noting that of their 30 allotted visits in 2022, general manager Brian Gutekunst ended up drafting six of them to the squad and signed a few more as free agents. The Packers also brought in Jordan Love for a visit the year they drafted their 2023 starting quarterback and even had a visit with then-Missouri quarterback Drew Lock in 2019 — when the team was reportedly considering drafting him.

Back in 2008, when Rodgers was named the team’s starter moving forward, the Packers hedged their bets by drafting Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm in the second round. If Rodgers was Gutekunst’s Favre and Love is Gutekunst’s Rodgers, maybe Hooker will end up being Gutekunst’s Brohm. It’s funny how history repeats itself sometimes.